Planning for Construction Sites

Agile Concept Plan Simulator for Construction, Layouts, Roads, Rail, 3D & 4D Planning.

3D-4D planner for project management and planning. Contact us to learn more.

Our latest BIM Simulator is powered by the Unreal Engine 5 and is available on the AWS cloud today. Just send your site location / data to us, and it’s converted from digital twin or BIM to SIM in days. See more about input data formats.

Make planning easy

You value site safety? You’ll love Simon and Simone – the 3D character who can walk anywhere (also run, fly and climb – but that’s a secret). Your team won’t playing games all day, they’ll know more about safety and methods with 3D human centred design and engineering.

You want free 3D models? Our 3D warehouse lets you plonk in models with drag-drop simplicity. Need more models? Just contact the team with the specifications for a quote to find, edit or make new 3D models.

You’re a PowerPoint planner? That’s OK. Our 3D creator tools are ‘PowerPoint-easy’ to make shapes, arrows and lines. But now – press one button and they magic into real parametric 3D hoarding, slew tracks, barriers, safety zone or roads. You will be amazing.

You need it on the cloud? UC BIM is usually deployed on the cloud via AWS (Amazon Web Services). We sort it all out and just send you a super-secure link. It’s cheap, easy and fast. No lugging data about.

You need it now? We are ready. Just contact us.

How do you start?

We make it easy for you to be awesome.

Starting from zero. We source COTS and publicly available data so you can get planning right away. If you are a data supplier – contact us to register on our supplier list. We have some city models ready to go. Brisbane. Melbourne. Canberra. Perth. Sydney. Wellington. Auckland and others are available quickly.

Starting from design. We take a quick look at your designs, GIS, BIM models whether they be in NavisWorks or Revit, Revisto to Propeller, MX or Civil3D, 12D or AutoCAD in formats like FBX, IFC, DWG, RVT, SKP, SHP and 1000 more. Let’s have a 10min virtual meeting or send screenshots. We’ll quote you to convert static data into an interactive simulated Digital Twin BIM SIM.

Starting from survey: If you got to the chopper, or the drone, and captured point cloud LiDAR, photogrammetry (photomesh) models, or have TINs and DEMs – we convert the good stuff into geospatial next-generational BIM simulation in a jiffy. What is the good stuff? It’s worth a chat – just contact us.

Extend your planning prowess…

More functionality? UC software engineers build tools and expand functions in partnership with our clients to develop tailored solutions. We are also always extending our tools and features based on customer feedback and capabilities.

More modelling? Our 3D modelling and BIM services integrate and create digital twins, BIMs and SIMs of projects.

More visualisation? Our communications team help take your BIM and SIM to a full storytelling experience through a storyboard and scripting process, then building and capturing the elements from the simulation to help you win support and engage stakeholders.

UC Planning Simulator

The ROI is simple. You and your team get to directly plan, test and prove in real-time high-definition 3D space from your desktop. Then show everyone and bring them on the journey. Months to minutes, per transaction.

Our BIM simulations are used by industry leaders such as Martínus, Acciona, Kiwirail, Queensland Rail, MTM, Queensland Transport and Main Roads, Seymour Whyte, Lend Lease, John Holland Group, Level Crossing Removal Authority, Perth City Council, Sunshine Coast Council, Canberra City and other National, and International Tier 1 clients to make project management faster and easier.

Our clients have often expressed their frustration with traditional, complex technology like Synchro and the more traditional and expensive P6 Prima vera process, and the slow 4D development that is cumbersome and hard to understand. That’s why we have designed the simulator to be fast, clear, beautiful and easy to use. As easy as a computer game.

If you’re looking to improve your project management and planning process and stay ahead of the curve with digitalisation, you’ve come to the right place. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you achieve your goals.

See more about input data formats.

How does it work?

Getting started is simple: simply send or upload your data, and we process and convert it into the Planner format for a simulated immersive experience of your project. Need extra 3D modelling or data sourcing? We offer these services as a quoted option.

Once your project is uploaded, you’ll receive a link from us with user and access details to the Planner, hosted on AWS. Simply click on the link and it opens a web-browser. Click on your project and you have working online in a high powered GPU virtual desktop. You can access this site anytime with your login. When you’re finished, save your work and click “End Session” (via the user email at the top right).

Notes:

The Planner subscription includes a set number of AppStream hours per month. With the standard Planner package, it typically takes a minute or two for your virtual machine instance to start. Always-on instances are available on request. The number of concurrent users is defined in the setup and pricing, and can be increased upon request.

Your project is uploaded from UC servers and stored securely on AWS S3 in an encrypted file. It is then streamed from S3 to the AWS AppStream service on load. In this way, data is always safe while being easily accessible from any computer with your login and password.

Digital Planner clients…

Site Works Planning Simulator

Explore any scene in first and third person. Collision and ground control automatic. Upload data and go.
Third person (9): Use arrows/WASD and space Walk, run, jump and jump-fly
First person (0): scroll-wheel zoom in/out to mouse position; right-click orbit; left-click-and-drag.

Planning Simulator Features

Navigation

The first thing you will want to do is navigate your site in the UC Planner to experience it in a whole new way. With our system, you can more deeply experience your project and site from day 1 to make it easier to identify potential issues and make better decisions.

Our navigation system includes two camera modes: Free-fly edit mode (Camera 0) and third-person model (Camera 9).

Camera 0 (default, click 0) is a free-fly editing camera like Google Maps. It allows you to zoom in and out with the scroll wheel and orbit with right-click. The camera collides with objects when they are behind you and slows down as you approach any geometry, ensuring you won’t get lost in 3D space. Left-click dragging moves the world, and double-left-click instantly takes you to that spot. Right-click-drag orbits you around the click-spot, highlighted with an orb. The PgUp/Dn keys move you vertically and arrow or WASD keys move you at constant speed. Middle click is the look-around function, like moving your head around.

Camera 9 (click 9) is a third-person experiential camera like a computer game. It gives you a human-centred experience of the environment. We have two inbuilt characters – the male is Simon (default), and the female is Simone. Press M to change between them. The WASD and arrow keys allow you to run around like a computer game, and use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out of the character’s head, spacebar is jump, and the shift key is to switch from running and walking. Additionally, left-clicking anywhere is a short-cut to just walk to that place and double left-clicking teleports to the location. Pressing F for fly gives a whole new experience of your site by flying and hovering in third-person. The controls are similar as walking, using arrows and WASD, and use Q and E for vertical motion. The characters have dynamic kinematics to manage stairs and jumping on ledges and climbing over objects. If you are at a vertical wall, you can press V for climb for spiderman functionality using the WASD and arrow keys as well as click-move.

3D Warehouse – Assets and Finder

Introducing our Asset Library, a powerful solution for managing and utilizing assets within your virtual environment. Our library includes a growing collection of plant and other assets that are stored on the cloud (AWS) and easily accessible at any time in one click.

With our asset library, you can easily access the assets you need when you need them. Simply click on any asset icon to drag-and-drop the asset into your scene. The object will download and appear in the scene where you placed it. You can use search to filter through the assets and find the specific one you need. If you require a specific asset that is not currently available in the library, our team can find, edit, create and upload it for you.

Once the asset is placed in the scene, simply use our easy Transform tool to adjust its position and rotation. Each time an item is placed in the scene, it will appear in the Finder in the selected folder. Drag assets between folders easily, as well as duplicate assets and folders.

You can copy and paste any selected item/s, placed them at the cursor location, and paste any number of times. Use the alt-drag function to select a group of assets, or use shift-select to click multiple assets one at a time, or select assets via the Finder similar CTRL/SHIFT functions to Windows Explorer.

Your work is saved in a .sim file. Press save to have the assets saved for next time you load the scene.

Our Asset Library is designed to be user-friendly, providing you with quick and convenient access to the assets you need to plan in your virtual environment. Contact us for more information and pricing options.

Easy Transform tools

To use the Transform tool, simply select any created asset by clicking on it. The asset will highlight and the Transform tool appears on click.

The standard transform tool (default) lets you move in all 2D directions along any collision surface (ie the ground), operating like gravity. It also allows easy rotation and vertical movement of the asset up and down. Use the advanced transform tool to move, rotate or scale in any one direction, or scale in all directions using the Shift key.

To Duplicate asset/s, or a whole folder, exactly in place, use the Duplicate feature in the Finder. Select the item/s and press Duplicate. This can be great for making a 4D version of the plan, duplicating a set of assets then moving the few to the next location.

Multiply assets using the CTRL+SHIFT+ALT modifiers with mouse movement to create any number of duplicates, and define the spacing between them in the pop-up box.

With our Transform tool, you’ll be able to easily and efficiently manipulate your assets to create the perfect plan quickly. Contact us for more information and pricing options.

Examples

We bring simulated digital plans to your project by modelling and converting data into virtual models. These can be transformed to communications media, training videos, interactive models and maps at any time with our advanced features and services.