Suggestions for Development

We have been using Prospect for a few months with an HTC Vive and models from Revit, and have found it to be very useful and great to use. The regular updates to the software are also appreciated and the recent updates in 1.3 are very welcome, particularly the ability to scale and move the model view.

Our suggestions for future development would be:

• The ability to switch between preset views from within the headset in addition to controlling on the keyboard, maybe a list like the levels feature, or cycling through using the grips on the Vive. If you are using it alone it would be more convenient to be able to switch views using the controls rather than trying to reach for your keyboard or taking the headset off.
• Ability to move up and down in z from the controllers and not just the keyboard. I understand why there might be a reluctance to do this but for simulating elevators etc it is very useful and would be nice to do it within the controllers
• I would like to be able to force all views to honour the same overall orientation, regardless of in which direction the view is pointing in Revit. The change in orientation due to different view directions has proved to be a bit confusing for users when using the preset views feature. I suppose we could ensure all of our views in Revit faced in the same direction but it would be easier if we could select it as an option.
• Now that we can move and scale the model I feel the table in the starting room is a bit redundant and would prefer there to be nothing there. The room itself could be bigger too to make room for scaling large models
• The ability to cut sections in the model view would be a great addition. We can sort of replicate this by getting close to it with the headset so the front clipping cuts the model but a feature to clip the model would be very useful.
• What are the limits for depth clipping in full scale? Could there be any option to control it? We have noticed for extensive models we can't see beyond about three kilometres. For some sensitive projects in central London we have to take account of views from specific places and when they are 3-4km away buildings are hidden by the rear clip
• For the scale model mode the touchpad on the Vive works fine for rotating and scaling but could we have the ability to scale and rotate by using both controllers to more intuitively control its size and orientation?
• For presentations where we choose not to give the controllers to the person in the headset and instead guide them using preset views from the keyboard (or just give them the teleporting controller) it would be nice to be able to turn of the visibility of one or both of the controllers so they don't appear in the scenes if they are sitting off to the side as they can be visually distracting.
• Ability to customise the mapping of layers
• Support for design options from Revit would be very nice but imagine that might be more tricky to implement