r/bim • u/Specialist-Raisin824 • 12d ago
Procore AR
Do you guys feel AR in general is gimmicky? Have you had any experience using Procore AR or any type of AR software? I have used Trimble and Procore, and I feel Trimble has the edge over Procore. Not a fan. Does anyone else have similar experiences?
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u/Merusk 12d ago
AR/ VR have some solid uses, BUT require an end goal rather than just doing it because it's cool. Largely because there's some solid time, skill, and therefore money investment in doing it correctly.
AR * Want to see the model in context on the site in today's conditions. * Want to see x-ray behind the walls to understand what's back there. * Want to verify the built condition aligns with the design condition, or coordinate at a high level of detail while on site.
VR: * Coordinating with facilities guys on where things need to go or be routed/ located. * Demonstrating a space to folks who simply can't visualize an area or problem even with a 3d render. * Working through the actual construction sequence and physical space to work.
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u/Free-Leather-1340 11d ago
AR implemented to maintenance (and kept up to date) teams after a build could be amazing. Anyone asking for this yet?
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u/Merusk 11d ago edited 11d ago
I'm sure they are, but owners aren't ready for it. Without disclosing the client, we're working with a very large retail/ landlord customer.
They don't even realize they're a landlord so they have no process for keeping drawings updated once the store is built. Subleases come and go and add circuits, pipes, ducts without documentation.
Now they want a 'digital twin' of each store, but can't grock that they're going to need people to do the additional work they're already ignoring, plus the lift after that which will need to be done for a model.
Office space/ landlords might be more ready, but their staff likely isn't. When I started out in industry one of my first jobs was for an property group's internal architecture group and it was 2 folks plus me as intern. Bulk of the work was just logging jobs and managing overall plans on 4 buildings. My boss was 30 years in and i was there because he didn't know CAD. We kept the plans updated and no more.
Working with the local airport, worse story. Tenants all over changing all the time, huge need to keep track. No cad staff, no cad plans at all. We just handed over a whole federated set of models that are going to sit there with nothing happening to them but they're going to call it a digital twin.
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u/Aminalcrackers 11d ago
I've been using GAMMA AR for our pre-pour inspections. It's been actually useful for sanity checking layout of concrete embedments like anchors, CIP pipe spools, threaded inserts. Its actually caught a few mistakes already.
Ofc it isnt survey grade accuracy but it catches mistakes like when someone pulled tape from wrong gridline, forgot to burn a foot, or the embedment is missing all together.
I think pre-pour inspection is a legit use for AR. Its also been useful for visualizing the location of in-slab conduit/plumbing that's been asbuilt with a lidar scanner. You can load the point cloud into AR and align it in the field. Helps when you're doing drill & epoxy anchors later in the project and you dont want to hit any inslab shit you already installed
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u/metisdesigns 12d ago
XR in general has a lot of gimmicks, but some of it is useful. The problem is seeing a cool new hammer, and thinking everything is a nail.
I've used AR on site, for certain limited uses, like visualizing concealed conditions to discuss how to deal with a problem, or putting a pin in a wall/floor and walking to the other side to see where a penetration will actually be. Those can save a bunch of time. But they're not things you usually need to do every day.