This layout includes beams, connections, facade elements, stairwells, and even handrails.
Cliff Young remembers cleaning his father’s construction factory in New Zealand in the early 80s. He watched as the workers looked over the engineering drawings and then traced the details of the beam on the concrete floor with chalk. These are literally shop drawings.
Fast forward a few decades. As CEO of Virtual Image and Animation, Young is now helping structural fabricators and other construction stakeholders with virtual reality (VR) simulations. They are sometimes used in marketing and sales, such as when a structural manufacturer demonstrates to a buyer exactly how it will produce steel and works with an installer to realize a building. Customers can watch the animation of steel lifting into place on the screen in front of them. Sometimes simulations are used for education, such as when they show detailers how the steel they are designing will be produced and installed. The simulation showed professionals how a small piece of missing information can lead to logistical chaos in the workplace.
Young and his team seem far removed from these chalk drawings on the floor. But in a way they are trying to bring the industry closer to these traditional ways, because those who paint also know (at least ideally) how buildings are built.
In 1989, the Young family immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, where Cliff’s father reopened his factory. In 2003, Young and his brother launched Anatomic Iron Steel Detailing. “Our father had a structure shop in Vancouver, so from the beginning Kerry [Cliff's brother] and I knew we were going to have at least one client. If you can’t talk your father into hiring you, well, you’re still better close this company from the very beginning.
In 2009, Anatomic Iron worked at Denver International Airport detailing the hotel and the intricate trellis steel frame that spans the airport’s train station. Structural manufacturer Canam and engineer SA Miro asked Anatomic Iron to create visualizations and animations to show how all of the canopy’s steel elements would fit together in place.
“We talked to the installers, planned everything and tested everything,” Jan recalls. “We took the Tekla model and converted it to 3DS Max. Based on it, we made a 3D animation of how each part would fit together. We shared it with the structure manufacturer and they worked with the installation team to plan all the sequences and Crane positioning It was very successful and we quickly realized that there is a lot of value in this kind of modeling.”
More modeling projects followed, and Young spun off the service into a separate company, Virtual Image and Animation, in 2017. Today, the company focuses on modeling and rendering for the construction industry, but is also expanding its technology to new markets.
“We have created virtual reality games [to educate the construction industry] and animations for construction projects,” says Kavian Iranzad, who was appointed business development manager in 2020. “But we’re also trying to bring other things to life, like a restaurant that mimics different types of food preparation. We’re a real estate and construction technology company, but we’re not limited to that.”
Some time after showing the initial simulation of the Denver airport, Young recalls talking to industry experts and finding that they were far from the actual practice of fabricating and installing the structure.
“They all sit in front of their computers,” he said. “They draw pictures, but they don’t fully understand who uses them and how they are used in everyday life.”
VR games help teach forklift driving (left), welding (center) and even bolting (right) on the 80th floor with a clear view of the pavement in the distance below.
Others feel the same way, including those at Industry Lift. The Williamsburg, Virginia-based public benefit corporation, founded in 2018 by FabSuite (now Tekla PowerFab) developer Bill Issler to advance the tech industry, is working to use virtual reality to do just that.
As Yang explains, “We created a VR software that they could use in a VR headset. The hardest thing that has been developed so far is the steelmaking simulation. [The VR simulation] shows what it’s like to be a steelworker.” , according to the game’s Blueprint Workshop.
“The same applies to installation. Our people can make installation plans and lay out the steel, but they have no idea what it will be like to use these installation plans on site. So, once again, using virtual reality, we placed them at the site where take the beam and actually put it in. They installed the bolts, tightened them with a wrench, while looking at the pavement 80 floors below.” The company modified the simulation to include solder joints.
“At the same time, they understand why it is so important to have a clear plan,” Young said. “If the guy on the steel structure needs clarification, like what bolts are needed or something like that, he needs to go down and check the blueprints again.”
As a result, the company has expanded its activities by providing various simulation trainings, including training for forklift drivers and crane operators. In the forklift simulation, students can lift steel, load it onto a flatbed truck, and learn how to stack steel with a ratchet and prepare it for transport. In Crane Operator Simulator, students operate a tower crane and learn how to maneuver steel beams and place them in the correct position.
The company has even developed a welding simulator adapted to the conditions of structural production. Students will learn how to set up a gun, how to put on proper safety gear (for example, if you draw an arc before lowering the hood, the screen will turn white and the game will end), and how to throw a good quality bead. . As Cliff explains, the simulator isn’t as detailed as some of the extensive welding simulators on the market, but it’s not an entry-level simulator either.
“There really is no limit to where these training simulations can go in the future,” Yang said. “We can provide locksmith training, bending machine training, beam line training, etc.”
Walk the halls of FABTECH, NASCC: Steel Conference or other industry events and you might see someone with a Microsoft HoloLens. Augmented Reality (AR) has found its way into the construction industry, and the technology has amazing potential for structural fabricators, roll forming machines, and other related steel industries.
Yang is quick to point out that his company’s current offering falls into one of two areas: training and marketing. As Young’s team did with the Denver airport project, fabricators can use simulation to sell their services to customers, showing them exactly what to expect and when, as well as how it will be manufactured and installed on the project.
However, the next step is to use the simulation for quality control by overlaying the Tekla 3D model on the actual manufactured component. Young described an example where a factory can use AR to fabricate and assemble two large curved steel sections. The design requires the two pieces to be rolled and assembled to a certain radius plus or minus a certain tolerance.
This simulation helps to report potential problems and suggest solutions before individual beams are cut.
This is where AR can play a role. Imagine a quality control technician wearing a HoloLens and checking that these two curved parts and all related elements fit together and are ready for final welding. AR overlays a detailed model so inspectors can compare it to the actual assembly. From there, the inspector can verify that yes, all components are assembled together within tolerance and that they are ready for final welding, or he can note problems and take corrective action. Taking it one step further, a technician or quality control operator can put on the HoloLens and inspect the rolled parts after they are formed, checking for correct dimensions and radii. If they get it wrong a little, they can strategize and plan for changes, which is much more efficient than welding the whole assembly and sending it to the site only to find that the giant structure is out of tolerance.
Such simulations boil down to the ability to predict and plan for the complexities of the future, a feat that virtual imaging and animation have achieved, at least at a high level, in their sales and marketing-oriented work. Young describes a recent animation made for those building the new JPMorgan Chase building in midtown Manhattan, showing exactly how the building’s incredibly complex plinth will be erected, as well as a series of large fan-shaped columns that support the structure of the building.
“In this case, we were animating how the entire building would be erected, especially how the crawler crane would move as the base of the structure was erected,” Young said.
Likewise, the company’s training simulations are based on best practices, allowing budding manufacturers to predict what a day on the shop floor will look like. The detailer understands how his blueprints will be used. In this way, simulation brings the real world closer to the world of software.
Modern modeling saves countless hours compared to traditional drafting. But at the same time, countless hours were wasted on missing parts and requests for information (RFIs) were sent back and forth between project stakeholders. Often, projects don’t move forward not because of a lack of resources on the part of the manufacturer or others, but because someone doesn’t respond to emails. Simulation, virtual reality and even augmented reality technologies can help ensure that these details are not overlooked.
Tim Heston is Senior Editor of FABRICATOR Magazine and has been in the metal fabrication industry since 1998, starting his career with the American Welding Society’s Welding Magazine. Since then it has covered all metal fabrication processes from stamping, bending, cutting to grinding and polishing. He joined The FABRICATOR in October 2007.
FABRICATOR is North America’s leading steel fabrication and forming magazine. The magazine publishes news, technical articles and success stories that enable manufacturers to do their job more efficiently. FABRICATOR has been in the industry since 1970.
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Post time: Dec-16-2022