Published on January 20th, 2021 | by Sunit Nandi

How Augmented Reality Changes the Field of Interior Design

It’s not a secret that the home design area is constantly developing, and the emergence of new technologies has an impressive effect on this sphere. Without a doubt, augmented reality (AR) is a one of the leading influencers. AR is a combination of computer-generated input and the actual environment. It is widely used in games, education, shopping, tourism, and also in interior design. However, With its help, specialists can boost up the quality of the evaluation and perception process.

If you would like to view interior design models in AR, you will need two types of devices — iPhones and iPads with support of ARKit, and Android gadgets with support of ARCore.

Interactive Experience

2D schemes and plans are essential for interior design, but you will get much more understanding of what can be done to improve your project if you view the 3D models in augmented reality. Without a doubt, this interactive experience is one of the most important novelties that technology brings to the development of the design industry.

Diversity of Options

Let’s review the areas of interior design where AR can be successfully implemented.

A New Approach to Furniture Sales

Today, you don’t have to leave home for selecting and purchasing decor and furniture items. All this can quickly be purchased online. Augmented reality comes helpful for avoiding the mistake of choosing the wrong item. For example, Amazon and IKEA offer AR apps for viewing their items in your environment.

Usage of AR in Real Estate

Apart from acting as a lifesaver for planning new apartments, augmented reality means will serve great for real estate companies. Agencies can apply this technology to offer remote tours to multiple houses and apartments to simplify decision-making for customers. This will save the time needed for personal visits.

Architecture Courses

AR is a perfect addition to interior design and architecture courses. This technology adds life and cool experience to all spheres where it is implemented. The theory is better perceived in such a modern way.

Sharing and Viewing Home Design Projects

AR models help specialists realize which combinations of colors and materials will work best of all for meeting their consumers’ objectives. They present more vivid results than their alternatives, e.g., videos or screenshots. This works amazingly when it is necessary to present the apartment’s advantages to clients.

DIY Home Renovation

Augmented reality will also be needed by those who desire to renovate their house or apartment themselves. It will be a piece of cake for anyone to check whether this or that piece of furniture will work for the overall interior style.

Review of an AR Home Design App

Taking into account how powerful and beneficial augmented reality is for interior design, it is necessary to find advanced software to use all the functions mentioned to the full extent. We would like to describe the AR functionality of Live Home 3D. This app is compatible with Mac, Windows 10, iPads and iPhones.

It offers dozens of features to help you through all the essential steps of your design project, among them allowing you to have a 3D walk in your future apartment or renovated house. Let’s take a look at the augmented reality capabilities of Live Home 3D.

Customizable Scale

With Live Home 3D, it is possible to select different design scales in AR. Depending on the scale you choose, you can either look at your tiny project on top of your table or walk around the real size house. The options vary from 1:1 to 1:25 and 1:50 scales.

Another interesting function is the People Occlusion feature. With its help, users are enabled to bring more life to the design — it allows seeing individuals within an augmented reality scene.

Several Viewing Options

The opportunity to “walk” inside any of your projects in augmented reality is really impressive. The users are welcome to visit either a particular room or a house in general.

Advanced View Settings

Apart from scaling maneuverability, the platform is distinguished with its view flexibility. That means you can select what you would like to check in more detail—from selected objects to the entire project.

Light Matters

Another important functionality of Live Home 3D is True Sun Lighting support. With its help, you are welcome to take a glance at how light sources influence the overall appearance of your interior. This will be helpful for understanding where lamps should be placed, for instance.

Excellent Export Options

It is up to you whether you would like to export the objects inside the project elements or not, so you can choose whether to export furniture and terrain, etc. In the cases when you need to check how your house may look from the outside, you can export it without furniture.

Collaborative Mode

For a lot of teams, it is a rather complicated task to work together on one project, since the app they chose doesn’t support collaborative mode. However, that is not the case with Live Home 3D. The software enables designers to join the simultaneous AR session and manipulate inner objects on different devices at the same time.

You are welcome to try out the augmented reality experience in Live Home 3D for iOS and iPadOS.

Other Cool AR Apps Worth Trying

Complete Anatomy ‘21: This app is a perfect fit for the students of medical institutions! Dissect and explore virtual models in real time. You can also try the exciting experience of a multiuser mode.
Sky Guide: In this app, AR helps to study stars and constellations easily and visually.
IKEA Place: Why not virtually try placing furniture elements from the IKEA store right into your house to check if they fit.
Amazon: Shopping made easy: With this app, online shopping has reached a completely new level. The “view in your room” function works like magic and shows the decor and furniture items in your own space.
Pokemon Go: We guess everybody knows this famous game. It has become an obsession for thousands of people around the globe. Catching virtual pokemons in the real environment is really addictive!

Tags: augmented reality, interior design

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.