Architecture, Engineering & Construction

Discover how industry leaders are embracing real-time 3D technology to change the way buildings are designed, created, and operated.

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Unity Software for AEC Industry

Unity software is widely utilized in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries. Its real-time 3D capabilities enhance design visualization and collaboration, enabling architects to create immersive 3D models for effective communication. Engineers use Unity for simulations and virtual prototyping, saving time and optimizing designs. In construction, real-time 3D visualization aids in project planning and coordination through AR overlays on construction sites.

Unity for AEC

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Bring IFC or FBX files into Unity to develop interactive, real-time experiences and publish to multiple platforms.

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Create real-time 3D experiences in AR, VR, and more from your BIM data.

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Real-time BIM is here
(Unity Reflect)

SHoP Architects' interactive visualization team shares why Unity Reflect is a very welcome technology" for their industry.

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The power of real-time 3D (Unity Pro)

Design, engineer, or construct buildings in VR, allow clients to experience an environment before it exists.

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A powerful, fast, and flexible platform

Read the Unity User Manual for a complete introduction to Unity. You’ll learn how to customize your workflow, integrate with external tools, and even extend the Editor itself.

Animation and cinematic tooling

  • Animation
  • 2D rigging IK
  • 2D animation
  • Timeline
  • Cinemachine

Audio and video

  • Audio components/mixer
  • Spatializer
  • Video player

Data-Oriented Technology Stack (DOTS)

  • C# Job System
  • Burst Compiler
  • Entity Component System
  • Unity Physics and Havok Physics (preview)
  • DSPGraph audio framework (preview)

Editor

  • Custom Extensions
  • Package Manager
  • HUB
  • Asset Workflow
  • Asset Database
  • Prefabs
  • Physics

Effects

  • Particle System
  • Visual Effect Graph

Interface

  • User Interface Tools
  • Text Mesh Pro
  • UIElements

Lighting

  • Global llumination (GI)
  • Progressive Lightmapper
  • Ray Tracing (preview)
  • Reflection Probes

Programming tools

  • Scripting in Unity
  • APIs
  • Creating C# Scripts
  • IDE Support
  • Pathfinding
  • Version Control
  • IL2CPP
  • Unity Test Framework

Optimization

  • Unity Profiler
  • Frame Debugger

Rendering

  • Rendering
  • Scriptable Render Pipeline
  • High Definition Render Pipeline
  • Universal Render Pipeline
  • Post-Processing
  • Shaders
  • Shader Graph
  • Ray Tracing

Worldbuilding

  • Terrain
  • ProBuilder
  • Polybrush
  • Tilemap
  • Sprite Shape
  • 2D Worldbuilding

2D

  • 2D Pixel Perfect
  • Sprite Tools
  • SVG
  • Physics 2D
  • Tilemap
  • Sprite Shape

Key Benefits

No need to leave design tools

From Revit, Navisworks, SketchUp, or Rhino, you can prepare and transfer data for real-time 3D and make changes to models during review sessions. Creating AR and VR experiences has never been easier.

Quick data preparation

Seamlessly optimize and federate BIM and CAD data from your applications and generate interactive 3D renderings that are live-linked to your BIM model.

Stay on track and on budget

Meet increasingly condensed client timelines by bringing key stakeholders into a unified real-time 3D experience to share ideas and gather and implement feedback instantly.

Easily customizable

Bring your projects into Unity Pro to enhance the quality of your experience and create custom AR/VR applications connected to your BIM data.

Build once and distribute anywhere

Thanks to the power and flexibility of the Unity platform, stakeholders can review models in real-time 3D on the platform of their choice.

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Mortenson case study: Better building designs and lower costs

Mortenson employs interactive VR experiences for construction clients. Using Unity to simulate new building designs in interactive 3D spaces, their customers benefit from improved designs, faster iterations, higher quality and lower costs.

Skanska case study: Fewer risks, safer workers with VR

Skanska collaborated with creative VR and AR agency OutHere, implementing a Unity-based VR experience into their standard worker-safety training program, enhancing construction-site safety.

Mortenson case study: Better hospital designs with VR

With their new operating rooms and care facilities perfectly simulated in interactive VR and 360 video, Mortenson’s customers can realistically experience future workspaces for benefits like streamlined patient services and more efficiency.

Webinar: Propelling Design Viz to New Heights

Explore a real-time rendered, full-scale 3D model of Unity’s new London office, created by VR agency Oneiros and M Moser Associates.

Creating lifelike environments with real-time 3D

Go behind the scenes on a state-of-the-art AEC demo project, built and rendered completely in Unity.

Improving ROI in AEC using XR

Learn how Unity empowered Studio 216 to create sales & marketing real-time visualizations in mixed reality. Watch a variety of client examples showcasing both stunning visualizations and team collaboration in order to iterate their designs across platforms.

TESTIMONIALS
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With interactive, immersive VR experiences, the project team was able to identify deficiencies in the design, ensure the most productive and efficient workflows, and get important buy-in.

Will Adams Emerging Technology Developer, Mortenson

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OutHere and Skanska What I am most passionate about in this project is the possibility to eliminate these types of risks. We should not be in danger at work. Workers should come home injury-free, every day.

Stephen Cooney Visual Effects Artist and Engineer

The real-time development platform of choice

For designers, engineers, and trailblazers across AEC, Unity is the most versatile and widely used real-time 3D platform for visualizing products and building interactive and virtual experiences.

True flexibility

We provide unmatched extensibility and adaptability with a powerful C# scripting system, comprehensive API and extensive documentation. Source code access can be purchased for under-the-hood C++ development.

Optimal graphic performance

Our Scriptable Render Pipeline (SRP) provides total flexibility for graphics optimization. The HD Render Pipeline (HDRP) offers world-class visual quality on high-performance hardware, while the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) maintains responsive performance when scaling for mobile.

Rapid creation

With its intuitive UI and tools, we make it easy to jumpstart a working prototype and bypass low-level programming. Changes are easy and instant through the magic of real-time, giving you more time to create and iterate.

Unparalleled platform support

Maximize your reach with our support for 25+ platforms. We partner early and deeply with publishing platforms so you can build once and deploy everywhere, including mobile and XR.

Rich interactivity

Included is a robust and well-documented API with access to a complete range of features – including physics, rendering, and communications – to enable a rich interaction model and easy integration with other systems.

A massive catalog of assets & tools

The Unity Asset Store gives you access to the largest marketplace of off-the-shelf assets and productivity tools to jumpstart your project. These building blocks cut down on development time to get you up and running and across the finish line faster.

Accelerating innovation across the AEC industry

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Design visualization

Get to better designs, faster. From concept to data integration, visualization and prototyping, we enable architects and engineers to catch and adjust flaws while easily collaborating on designs at scale in immersive, interactive 3D environments.

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Sales and marketing

Deliver experiences that win bids by creating rich scenarios that immerse clients in the buying process. From online configurators to virtual showrooms, build unique 3D, interactive experiences that engage them emotionally.

An industry leader in the video and broadcast market

Training and safety

Build training applications that enable learning in an interactive, immersive 3D space, which speeds up knowledge transfer, reduces physical mockup costs, and lowers risks of on-site construction injuries.

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Desktop I/O

View the latest design & construction plans streamed to your device onsite, while leveraging BIM (Revit) metadata in assembly sequencing visualizations.

Unity & Autodesk: Powering your creativity

Learn how you can quickly import, prep, and optimize your data. Eliminate friction with the smooth and seamless import of Revit and 3ds Max directly into Unity – while keeping your BIM data intact.

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Whether you’re a developer or have never touched a line of code, Unity Reflect lets you create real-time BIM experiences in real time to win more projects, conduct immersive design reviews, and connect design and construction. Available now.

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