Server-Based Mixed-Reality System For Multiple Devices To Visualize A Large Architectural Model And Simulations

The use of mixed-reality systems in urban architecture allows people without specialized knowledge to intuitively understand the results of urban architectural planning and simulation. However, because the associated three-dimensional (3D) models involve large data volumes and heavy processing loads, they are difficult to process on devices commonly used for mixed-reality display, such as notebook PCs and smartphones. Here, we propose a method in which a server takes over the mixed-reality processing and allows multiple devices to display the 3D model simultaneously from the server. In this study, we verified the real-time performance of mixed-reality display on two devices while performing a daylight simulation with an indoor 3D model of approximately 2.6 million polygons. The results showed that multiple devices shared and displayed the 3D model with real-time performance that was unaffected by the data size up to 2.6 million polygons but was affected by the video-compression performance of the devices.