How Omniverse Enterprise Removes Obstacles to Remote 3D Collaboration

by Andrew Rink

In the era of hybrid work, interactive collaboration is a bigger challenge than ever for architects and designers around the world.  

With NVIDIA Omniverse Enterprise, running on NVIDIA RTX systems, design teams have a game-changing platform designed to overcome this challenge.  

Many professionals are working from home while others go into the office, which makes collaborating on complex 3D digital models even more complicated. With fewer face-to-face meetings, finding ways for architects to effectively communicate design ideas and exchange feedback with each other and their clients, especially in real time, can be difficult.  

To improve remote collaboration, architects must tackle three key obstacles:  

  • Simplifying the exchange of design data 
  • Having a single source of truth for 3D design projects 
  • Creating high-quality visuals that communicate design intent 

NVIDIA Omniverse Enterprise is built for real-time 3D design collaboration. The platform provides high-performance and physically accurate simulation for complex 3D scenes like skyscrapers or cityscapes, and the ability to connect leading 3D design applications to achieve seamless, collaborative workflows.  

Omniverse Enterprise enables architects around the world to easily collaborate, share photorealistic scenes across teams and devices, accelerate design workflows and reduce the number of review cycles all while working from any location.

Bringing Design Data Together 

Professionals across disciplines use a wide range of advanced software tools and applications. To collaborate on designing buildings, users must share and exchange all their assets. But often, the data that’s imported and exported between those disparate software tools ends up in lost time. This can result in errors due to data translation problems.   

Pixar’s Universal Scene Description, an open-source 3D scene description and file format, is a foundational element for Omniverse that enables interoperability when using the platform. USD eases the exchange of design data because teams can synchronize all their assets from different applications.  

With Omniverse Enterprise, architects no longer need to worry about data preparation to import-export between tools because the platform provides one-click interoperability between leading architectural design software products such as Autodesk Revit, McNeel Rhino, Trimble SketchUp, and Epic Games Unreal Engine. 

Sharing a Virtual Space

Omniverse Enterprise boosts efficiency for remote teams by providing a single view of shared 3D scenes while multiple software applications run live. This means that changes and iterations are made on a single-source-of-truth dataset, removing the need for redundant file copies.  

With this capability in Omniverse Enterprise, users don’t need to be in the same room to simultaneously collaborate on projects, and teams are not stuck in a linear design workflow.  

Whether working concurrently or in a live group session, teams can work on the same 3D model or scene – and see real-time updates on design changes. This streamlines the workflow further, enabling architects to complete projects faster, while working from the office, onsite or at home.  

Image courtesy of Horizon Productions.

Creating High-Fidelity Visualization 

Built on NVIDIA RTX technology, Omniverse Enterprise lets users view high-fidelity renders of architectural models in real time. Teams can instantly share ray-traced or path-traced renders to any device for their clients to view. 

With NVIDIA RTX and Omniverse Enterprise, professionals can save time and iterate more quickly on projects with photorealistic visualization of 3D models. Architectural design teams can meet tight deadlines for competitions and bid submission, speed up design reviews and iterations, and prepare more compelling client presentations.  

Architects and designers can also easily tackle obstacles to remote collaboration. Leading architecture firms like CannonDesign, IBI Group, KPF and Woods Bagot use Omniverse Enterprise to bring design teams together virtually, and thousands of individual architecture, engineering and construction professionals are exploring the powerful capabilities of Omniverse. 

With NVIDIA Omniverse Enterprise running on NVIDIA RTX, geographically dispersed project teams can maximize productivity, enhance communication and boost innovation while collaborating on the same 3D digital model from anywhere. 

Learn more about NVIDIA Omniverse Enterprise for Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations. 

Register for free to discover how NVIDIA accelerates AECO design workflows at GTC, taking place March 21-24.