COMPARISON OF CHARACTERISTICS OF BIM VISUALIZATION AND INTERACTIVE APPLICATION BASED ON WEBGL AND GAME ENGINE

Abstract

How can we make the building information model accessible to all stakeholders on a project? An efficient approach is to access the building information model is to use the software that created the model. However, not all stakeholders will be able to use this highly specialized software—due to lack of training and expensive licences—even if some software specially developed a simplified version of the viewer to browse the model, however, it still failed to provide convenient access to these models for participants from a wide range of backgrounds. The current development of BIM model visualization and interactive applications is mainly based on two technologies: WebGL and game engines. What is the general workflow of WebGL and Game Engines supporting application development? What are their characteristics respectively? What conditions are restricted? There are no relevant academic papers to discuss and compare these two types of platforms. Therefore, this is the content of this essay. By comparing the workflow and characteristics of BIM visualization and interactive application development based on WebGL and Game Engine, it can provide a reference for heritage building managers when planning the development of relevant application tools and meet the participation needs of different stakeholders.