How Obayashi is democratizing stakeholder collaboration in construction

Discover how Japan-based construction company Obayashi is raising industry standards with a collaborative environment that empowers employees at every level to easily access and use 3D models.

Obayashi has long utilized 3D models in the planning and design phases of their projects. However, implementing these 3D models effectively during the construction phase presents a big challenge: making large 3D models accessible for all workers without requiring high-performance devices or specialized skills.

To address this, Obayashi turned to Unity’s real-time 3D solutions to develop their immersive 3D collaborative application, called CONNECTIA🄬.

Key outcomes of the application include:

• Efficient rendering of large BIM and point cloud 3D models, even on low-spec PCs
• User-friendly UI accessible to workers without advanced 3D software skills
• 71% of the 14 surveyed sites expect a reduction of 10 or more hours per person per month in the near future

Read on to learn more about the development process of the CONNECTIA🄬 application and how it helped Obayashi overcome data accessibility challenges.

Obayashi’s solution: CONNECTIA®

CONNECTIA® is the construction company’s solution to challenges that arise when making 3D models accessible and practical to all site-workers.

Before developing the solution, Obayashi relied on traditional BIM software to build, visualize, and modify their models. However, this resulted in the following challenges:

1) Hardware issues: It is difficult to handle large BIM and point cloud 3D models on low-spec PCs.

2) Software issues: The complexity of software often presented challenges for non-technical users and necessitated additional training, which was both time-consuming and resource-intensive.

By integrating Obayashi’s already existing 3D models, CONNECTIA® serves as a unified, intuitive platform. It facilitates interactive collaboration and real-time modification of 3D models among team members from varying disciplines and backgrounds.

Throughout the development process, Unity’s solutions played a pivotal role in three key ways:

1. Optimizing asset visualization and management

By harnessing Unity’s advanced rendering techniques like level-of-detail and texture compression, Obayashi transformed their complex 3D data sources like CAD, BIM, and point cloud, into ready-to-use assets that could be visualized within their immersive collaboration application.

Metadata plays a crucial role in enhancing the value, usability, and longevity of 3D models in construction. With Pixyz, Obayashi preserved essential metadata during the integration of their data into their application. Additionally, Pixyz’ compatibility with point cloud data allowed Obayashi to incorporate a level of detail and real-time accuracy that traditional BIM and CAD data could not provide.

Unity Asset Manager serves as a centralized hub for managing BIM data across Obayashi’s construction projects. One key advantage of Asset Manager is its ability to automatically handle data conversion and version control. This automation greatly reduced the burden on Obayashi’s development team, eliminating the need for manual conversions or individual support for different file formats.

Unity Asset Manager’s integration with CONNECTIA® means that updates to 3D models can be easily pushed to the application without requiring additional development work. This real-time synchronization ensures that stakeholders can instantly access the most up-to-date project information, enhancing collaboration, and reducing the risk of errors due to outdated data.

2. Expediting development

Obayashi was able to kickstart their development with a pre-built project provided by Unity to quickly create CONNECTIA®. This enabled the company to avoid additional groundwork and instead leverage a pre-built, fully functional immersive collaboration tool. It included pre-configured environments and assets that accelerate development timelines by eliminating the need for repetitive setup tasks, allowing developers to focus on core functionalities right from the start.

The modular design of the pre-built project allowed for Obayashi to easily swap out features and add new ones as needed. Obayashi was able to add features such as:

• Detailed measurement: Facilitates precise analysis of spatial dimensions that provide essential data for on-site planning and decision-making, like confirming that there is enough space for heavy duty equipment deployment.
• SSO login: Integration with Microsoft Treasury Intelligence Solutions (TIS).
• Timeliner: Enables stakeholders to visualize construction progress over time, allowing for proactive adjustment to schedules and resources based on real-time data.
• Real-time view: Allows workers to visualize actual construction site conditions in real-time, ensuring that teams are working efficiently.

3. Making data accessible

The application was designed to enhance collaboration among stakeholders by making 3D data easily accessible, even on devices with minimal graphics capabilities. This ensures that field workers, who may not have access to high-performance devices, can still engage with critical project information.

A key factor in Obayashi’s decision to use Unity was the Engine’s broad platform support, which is integral to ensure accessibility. Unity’s platform extensibility enables immersive experiences across a wide range of devices, including mobile, desktop, and AR/VR. This capability allows users to share experiences, view models in a 3D spatial context, and seamlessly connect office-based stakeholders with field operations.

CONNECTIA® also includes various features that further enhance collaboration and ensure that all stakeholders remain aligned throughout the project:

• Object Placement Functionality: This feature allows users to interactively place, align, and remove models within the 3D environment, facilitating comprehensive reviews of construction plans and effective communication of project status.
• Annotation Feature: Users can create, reply to, edit, and archive comments on objects within the 3D environment.

Future plans

Looking ahead, Obayashi plans to use the application to significantly reduce the effort and cost involved in creating and acquiring models. The company envisions integrating AI capabilities to analyze data and perform semi-automatic preliminary studies, which would streamline the construction planning process.