I think this could be a very useful app if it works well! You can 'sign up' for notification on the Limitless site BUT don't worry as I have done this already for SketchUcation and will keep you updated. I might even ask them for an advanced demo BUT to test this I would have to get my hands on an iPad 2! This would mean a trip to my local Apple dealer but it would be for a good cause ...... only thing I would be afraid of is that I might be very sorely temped to buy the iPad2
Mike
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Thanks Mike for the link. One of the main reasons I bought the ipad 2 is to be able to view my SU models and show my clients their jobs. So I ll keep a tab on this one.
From what I understand you can load models directly and not just from 3D Warehouse, right? And is that 10mb a limit of the application or you mean that this is how much the iphone - ipad can handle?
You can load models from email or Dropbox. Lots of factors influence what will load.
SightSpace 3D utilizes a custom 3D engine to display the largest, most complex models possible and takes full advantage of the memory on iOS devices. This memory is limited and it is not possible to load every model. In these cases, you will receive a memory message (to prevent a crash). This section will suggest actions you can take to load the largest, most complex models possible. If you receive a recurrent memory message or an error, try the following: Close all other running apps (double tap the Home key, hold App icon until minus appears, and tap the minus to close) Optionally, after closing other apps, reboot your device - this gives the maximum amount of RAM for SightSpace 3D to use (press and hold the screen lock button for 5 seconds and follow the instructions to power off the device) Lastly, if the above is insufficient, reduce model complexity Model complexity does not equal simple file size. Factors include geometry, materials, and components. iOS devices contain two types of memory: Storage Space and RAM. Storage space memory is the GBs that your device has such as 16GB, 32GB, etc. RAM memory is used by all the running apps on the device and is limited. Memory messages you receive from SightSpace 3D will be a result of running out of RAM.
I was fortunate and got to test it out a little. I owe Mike a write-up still, but a 1.5 year old and being gone 4 out of 7 days in the week allows for no play time .
The items I thought were great:
Fast on the iPad 2. The AR was really easy to set up. Once the model was created and placed on Google Earth, I used the GPS feature of the app and was able to pre-load the location of the structure in the program. All that was needed was to go to the area, turn on the iPad, et voilà, my building was sitting exactly on site where I planned. Fooling around I was able to place a model of the Space Shuttle in the park behind my house. I walked to the park, started the app, and sure enough I had a space shuttle sitting in the park. Pretty cool.
Playing aside, this is very useful. One can develop a simple SU representation of the structure for a client, load it into SightSpace with Google Earth coordinates and take it to the site where the structure will be. After importing this information into SightSpace, the app can be panned across the scene to see a good representation of the structure on the site, along with the ability to pan around the area and walk around the subject to see it from different perspectives. The presentation would look best in a cleared site, but it isn't necessary. Speed on the iPhone 4 was OK, but SightSpace really shines on the iPad 2 and one can expect better performance on the iPad 3 when it becomes available.
There are some considerations that should be mentioned. SightSpace uses the GPS on the device, and that GPS is dependent on having good reception. I had difficulty displaying a structure on a wooded lot as the canopy was enough to block the signal. The model must be efficiently designed to provide the best balance of detail and textures for the best look as the amount of memory usable for the app is limited.
My wish list for the app is pretty short, I would like to see simple shadows be available in some way. It would really help ground the model on a site and make it feel more "there". The ability to have more detail on the model would be a plus. I think if I was a more efficient modeler I would have better success at achieving a good looking model on site, but I had to struggle and pare down my model's textures and detail in order to get it to display on the app.
Thanks! Seems like a nice app. Strange that it is not mentioned more ofter here.
EscapeArtist, I assume you were using the 3G version of iPad which has GPS and that the WiFi only wouldn't work with AR.
Anybody used this app with Android? I am planning to buy a tablet but I don't want to pay for the 3G version of iPad to get GPS since I don't really need 3G.
EscapeArtist, I assume you were using the 3G version of iPad which has GPS and that the WiFi only wouldn't work with AR.
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Yes, the 3G version. As for the rest, I'm not sure. You can manually position the model in SightSpace, so I think you might be able to use it in a non-GPS environment. I was having some difficulty with a model that kept jumping around due to a GPS problem, I asked if they could include a GPS disable button, but I have not used an updated version of the app to see if the suggestion was included.
It's a really neat app. I demo'd it for a couple of architects when I used it to show a small house on the property we hope to build on. Their eyes just about fell out of their heads. Unfortunately they weren't that technologically inclined, so I doubted they would invest in the iPad and app.
I'll see if I can find the video I took with it on site, it isn't very good.
I think I have figured out a way to attach a camera to the iPad1 so not too bad 
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