New virtual reality tools will allow architects and designers to create buildings and products intuitively in 3D space around them, according to the director of visualisation studio VRtisan (+ movie).
The technology, which couples VR software created for game designers with hand-held motion controllers, offers designers "a completely new tool," according to Ekke Piirisild of the London studio.

"It's a whole new way of designing," Piirisild told Dezeen. "It allows designers to create more convincing scenes by designing while immersed in them."
VRtisan has created a video demonstrating the design process, which shows an architect using VR game-developer software Unreal Engine in combination with the HTC Vive headset and motion controllers. The movie shows the designer wearing a VR headset and using the hand-held controllers as an input device for Unreal Engine, allowing him to create walls, doors and furniture around him in 3D space.

He can then tweak the forms and add material finishes while walking around and viewing his creations from all angles.

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"In the video we try to show that you can rely on your intuitive understanding of space," Piirisild said. "You?re not taking yourself out of the space to design, as you do when you design in 2D. It allows you to immediately see the impact of your decisions regarding form, ma...