Last week, I demoed my Walking Paths application at 3TU Innovation & Technology conference using a Smartboard that allows touch and pen interaction. To explain how it enables user participation in architecture, I presented a model of the building where the conference was held and asked visitors to draw the path they took across the building before the arrive at my stand. The Smartboard enable users to add information to the design model without having any previous skill with architectural design tools. The pen let them focus on what they need to do inside the software (Autodesk Revit), despite its incredible complex interface.
The Smartboard also allows designers to react quickly to user input by moving walls, adding doors, enlarging corridors, and so on. I haven’t tested this application in real project yet, but I hope it would be useful for facility managers and architects to inquiry users about their activities.
The next step is to try the special plugin for Autodesk tools that enable multitouch interaction.
