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REAL ESTATE HOME SHOWINGS ??

neil0736
Honored Guest
I would like to start a real estate business filming houses for sale and
then offering real life simulated "walk throughs" or showings of those
homes at real estate brokers offices or at home, what kind of equipment
would i need to buy to film these walks troughs to then show this on
occulus and what is the cost ? and do you know of anyone doing this?
Would one of our community members would be willing to share what it took for them to get the Rift working with 360* video and which hardware they used to accomplish it?
15 REPLIES 15

m0bius
Protege
I can't specifically advise on how to implement 360-degree video and the rift, but I can tell you that I briefly thought about this very idea and dismissed it for the following reasons:

1. If a potential buyer is willing to come to your office to look through a clunky device at a 2D video (yes, 360-degree video will be 2D unless you have a huge budget for a multi-camera sphere system), they may as well just drive to the damn house for a live showing.

2. If a potential buyer is NOT willing or able to come to your office, you will need to make a house call. This will require transporting a laptop, camera, and Rift to everyone's home, not to mention setting up a new IPD every visit, possibly changing out eyepieces, setting eye depth, etc. Major time-killer and profit eater IMO.

3. Unless your 360 video is rock steady, I imagine many customers getting nauseous quickly. A sick tummy is a sure way to immediately project a negative vibe on that listing regardless of how cool the presentation may be.

360-degree video already exists for real estate showings, but it is displayed on a traditional monitor as should be the case. There are too many things to go wrong with VR presentations at this time. Maybe 10 years from now will be another matter, but it just doesn't seem viable right now. Let's say we get to the point with mobile technology that everyone can use Google Cardboard with their phones. THEN you can just have your content online and anyone can do a virtual walkthrough on their phone from wherever they want. No house call needed.

kimblarsen
Explorer
"neil0736" wrote:
I would like to start a real estate business filming houses for sale and
then offering real life simulated "walk throughs" or showings of those
homes at real estate brokers offices or at home, what kind of equipment
would i need to buy to film these walks troughs to then show this on
occulus and what is the cost ? and do you know of anyone doing this?
Would one of our community members would be willing to share what it took for them to get the Rift working with 360* video and which hardware they used to accomplish it?


I very much agree with m0bius here - the Oculus Rift is likely not your best platform for this type of content, while mobile VR will likely be a good one. If you partner with a large real estate company you could consider providing Google's Cardboard VR kits for those interested in buying an apartment or renting a space. In particular if you did this at a real estate expo or a special event.

I would be very careful with moving 360 videos because of simulation sickness, and would start with static viewpoints and edit these together much like you would a traditional film/video. You can also consider providing or outsourcing 3D visualization services for projects that are not yet realized. However if you plan on compositing CG into a 360 video of existing environments this is not going to be cheap/easy. A fully CG 360 animated environment would also be costly but far cheaper for the visual quality than building a fully interactive real-time 3D scene (which would not run on mobile anyway, but could work with the Oculus Rift).

Best,
Kim Baumann Larsen
@kimusan

RedAndBlue
Honored Guest
...yet

TheAsimovInitia
Honored Guest
Don't underestimate the hype of things. Being a small firm being able to this or a bigger firm trying to fight their competitors with new cool ways. When VR is hitting the massmarket, being there with a solution like this could be a game breaker for you.

This might be your thing, but it is not ready yet.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dot/joey-360-4k-seamless-video-capture-broadcast-confe?ref=disc...

Ive been into the same idea my self. Real estate is a good market for this.

HAWKEYE481
Honored Guest
We're on this already we're doing 360 3D spherical videos of properties filmed with remote controlled drones, this will actually take off once VR is mainstream as it stands you need a commercial HMD with no restriction which you can put in the hands of estate agents without infringing on any rules. They can then allow potential buyers to view from inside the office space before entering a property. Obviously you can't do this with a DK2 as it's against the rules & you can't sell them. The bigger picture is when people can sit at home & view property straight of the internet.
"Some people say VR can take you anywhere in the world, I say VR can take you anywhere in your imagination" Intelligent-Visuals http://www.ivvr.uk http://www.intelligent-visuals.com https://www.facebook.com/intelligentvisuals

Theshwaurts
Honored Guest
hey email me directly i am on board had this idea too!
would love to collaborate
Garrettrgalvin@gmail.com

JamesAck
Honored Guest
I do not think that a "full walk through" would be necessary or even advisable (unless you bring popcorn and other munchies).. however that said:

I believe the resolution of the first model for end user would have enough resolution for a client to not be discerned with, and you would have to modify the headset to "not" be bound to the head, but be on a sort of tripod in front of them (similar to the Nintendo "red" lol) so that they can be immersed, with the option to "bug out" from the headset by simply pulling back..

I think it's first format would be simply choosing textures, and designs, couple this with a full long table with an add-on touch screen IR box around the edges, can help support you to being viewed as a "21'st century" go-getter (since the table serves as a standard format for "pushing" paperwork to them, and expanding upon a section of blueprints to discuss about)...

I doubt (for the immediate future that is) that a client will feel comfortable with losing the ability to control their body and demeanor..

But take it or leave it...lol

HAWKEYE481
Honored Guest
I don't think there's even a need to walk around atm regarding property visualisation but offering it wouldn't hurt. I think offering multiple camera views is one way of doing it. 360 sepherical video as in set guided tours on a linear route is another.

If you're talking about interior design then that's a totally different ball game either way from the offset at some point all these formats could potentially merge into one form. From the likes of Architectural visualisation, property visualisation & interior design they're all fairly different or at least will use different formats in which the viewer views them.

Also I think the way in which a business will offer this as a service will differ from people who view at home and a lot more thought needs to go into that side of things. The bigger picture is using the likes of the Gear VR so people can just log straight onto the Internet and jump straight into a 360 video or even photo.

Either way if takes off as a tool for those industries footage will need to be taken estate agents and other businesses alike will need to invest in the equipment
"Some people say VR can take you anywhere in the world, I say VR can take you anywhere in your imagination" Intelligent-Visuals http://www.ivvr.uk http://www.intelligent-visuals.com https://www.facebook.com/intelligentvisuals

zork2001
Heroic Explorer
I imagine it being a 180 FOV recording using 2 cameras next to each other recording for the 3d effect. You would have to have the camera on some kind or track to keep it perfectly smooth and the movement would have to be very slow. In front you would have a relator walking and talking about what is in the room you are looking at, after a minute the screen would flash white and you would be in a new location to repeat the process.