The following article is sponsored by Buildfore
In a world where construction is desperately seeking young people to fill the gaps of an aging workforce, it seems pretty obvious that someone should have come up with a way to incorporate video games into the construction process. Well, thanks to Buildfore’s CtrlWiz, someone finally has, and it allows users to manipulate 3D models within Navisworks with an Xbox controller.
The Xbox One controller is able to connect to nearly every PC available on the market today, making it an obvious fit for a construction industry still dominated by Windows-based computers. Gaming manufacturers have spent decades perfecting controllers to fit the human hand and they have proven to be very effective over that time.
Conventional ways of navigating through 3D models involve a clunky combination of a keyboard and mouse, which isn’t natural for many. Using a popular gaming controller makes moving around your computerized jobsite second nature, especially the developers took navigation cues from first-person style gaming.
Image courtesy of Buildfore
It’s also had a surprisingly strong effect on the more seasoned field staff, many of whom aren’t normally so quick to adapt to new technologies, the company said. Several companies using the plugin say that their superintendents have had much more success with the Xbox controller than they had previously with the keyboard and mouse.
With its initial release, CtrlWiz allows users to move and look with ease through the 3D models, but their development team is not finished yet. Feedback and functionality requests will be collected by from the community and the plugin will be regularly updated. Support for Navisworks 2020 is already on the top of the list of updates.
The CtrlWiz/Xbox Controller add-in is currently available on Autodesk’s App store for $29.99 and is compatible with both Navisworks Manage and Simulate. Add-ins are disabled on all of Autodesk’s free viewers, so it is not available on Navisworks Freedom.
Check out the video below of CtrlWiz in action!
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