Currently the trend for the property development industry is catering to clients to buy off-the-plan properties. Before investors would decide on their purchases by visiting the property in person and viewing the physical floor-plans to make a their decisions.
However, nowadays developments start off from plots of land to be developed into a future property, and showing clients a cabbage patch saying, “Everything the light touches will be your kingdom” hardly assists investors in making an informed decision.
As a result, technologies have been developing to assist virtual tours to show clients a digital representation of the future property.
Director of Scharp, Malcolm Schapel says having interactive 3D models that are broken up by floor, apartment type and finally apartment detail has definitely enhanced the buying-decision process.
“Scharp has developed interactive apps based on traditional sales methods that use printed agents books to showcase and describe the apartments,” he said.
“From zoom-able apartment plans, 3D fly-through movies, as well as interior 3D panoramas with changeable colour schemes and gyroscope functionality, this current 3D virtual interactive world of apartment sales will progress and change infinitely into the future as technology improves and buyers demand.”
Scharp 3D Visualisation Apps
Scharp has already made 3D visualisation apps such as SCG Trust Masterplan for Moore Park Sporting and Entertainment precinct including the SCG and Allianz Stadium, which acts as a full suite of presentation collateral inclusive of images, fly-throughs, showreel and staging movies, all together in one interactive iPad app / PC presentation.
The app was used to present to the government as well as the collective sporting bodies represented on site to secure future funding for the various stages, which is a definitive example of new technologies in practice for assisting future investments.
As a visual example of the ‘presentation suite’ take a look at the video of another Scharp project Melbourne Docklands.
Scharp produces several exterior and interior 3D renderings, photomontages and flythroughs capturing the essence of the Melbourne Docklands brand and architecture. The company then storyboard all of the collateral into a movie and interactive presentation that is being used online and as a sales tool via laptop and iPad.
“The iPad apps that we produce are portable digital display suites with real-time Sales management system to realise results quicker interstate and overseas where clients just can get to a display suite on site,” Mr Schapel said.
Currently Scharp caters for fully immersive virtual 3D environments as well as virtual gyroscopic images.
These apps are not limited to iPads and are easily ported to Android as well as traditional Windows and Mac formats together with plasma touch-screens for display suites. This effectively transforms one app into a multi-platform digital marketing arsenal at a fraction of the cost.
MultiTouch Table
Although many technologically focussed marketing strategies are attempting to incorporate interactive touch screens, current touch screens are hardly that impressive anymore considering everyone and their grandmother has a smart phone or tablet. The currently ubiquitous touch screens still have limited functionality and single person interaction focus, whereas Paravision sought to alter this with The Multimedia Interactive Table.
The Multimedia Interactive Table is a revolutionary interactive technology that responds to natural hand gestures and real-world objects. It is a user-friendly surface computing technology consisting of a multi touch system, a high definition screen and a powerful computer with high-tech design and functionalities.
The Interactive Multi Touch Table enables hands-on manipulation instead of using a keyboard or mouse that revolutionises the interactivity of digital content, while keeping connective capabilities. The table has four separate starting points, to accommodate multiple users.
- Works on any surface of any size, vertical or horizontal, window or screen.
- Reacts immediately to touch or to ‘pointing’ above the screen- The sophisticated micro cameras system of Surface sees what is touching it and recognizes fingers, hands, paintbrushes, tagged objects and a list of other real-world items.
- Consists of a hardware that can deal with normal ambient light conditions that will not affect the system. Strong ambient light could be a glare.
- Offers cutting edge capabilities like object recognition, and complex gesture recognition (i.e. circular hand motions), etc.
- Supports multi touch standard interface due to a special Hand-tracking system that lets control the application multimedia content in a breathtaking way, transforming the surface into an interactive multi touch-computing platform.
- Constitutes a durable and hygienic alternative to traditional touch-screen surfaces.
“The beauty about this technology is that more than one user can operate the table at one time to find out information,” Mr Schapel said.
“Selling agents can either walk the buyer through this new interactive table experience which leads to a sense of 'join in' attitude from others to ‘give it a go’ because often the buyer is wary of this sort of sales tool.
“‘New breeds fear, but the more we get used to these devices, just like 4-year-olds now instinctively swipe images on an iPad, the less fear and more usability the buyer will have and demand more into the future.”
The Future
Founder and Director of Q1 Design, a technology company specialising in digital platforms and applications for the property development industry, Cuan Naidoo offered his opinion of where interactive platforms could lead the property industry within the next 5 years in a Q&A session with The Urban Developer.
Melbourne Park Redevelopment by Scharp“The technology has already evolved into a fully functional sales tool from just another presentation gadget. The next evolution will be integrating this experience with a mobile sales strategy to assist in communication efforts with clients (38 per cent of our daily media interactions occur on a smartphone – google multi-screen world research document),” says Mr Naidoo.
“Further to this, the technologies will become more impressive with the eventual development of properly functional holograms. Focus has to be maintained however, on a usable tool instead of just gimmick.”
Mr Schapel says there is certainly a sense of ‘why change it if it works’ attitude in the sales industry, but developers are often interested and willing to engage new digital interactivity and social media platforms if they can sense an edge over their competition for a faster sale.
“Once proven to work, developers definitely get excited and readily jump on board”.
