Cintoo has launched Cintoo Workspace, an application that lets project teams meet and make decisions together inside high-fidelity digital twins streamed directly from 3D scan data. The company said teams can join a real-time session from a desktop, a VR headset or an immersive room, with built-in guided collaboration intended to give virtual reviews the structure of a real site walk.
Cintoo frames the launch around a mismatch in how reality data is used. Organizations are capturing more scan data than ever, it said, but the teams who need to review that data are rarely in the same place. The options currently used for such reviews include unstructured meetings in shared 3D spaces, where participants risk losing track of each other, and video calls in which everyone passively watches one person's low-resolution, screen-shared walkthrough. Decisions then tend to be pushed into follow-up emails, meetings and costly site visits.
Scan data rather than design models
According to Cintoo, most collaboration tools are built around design models. Cintoo Workspace is an Unreal Engine application cloud-connected to the Cintoo platform and works on scan data captured by terrestrial and mobile scanners, 360 cameras and drones, alongside BIM or CAD models. That combination is intended to let teams review the site as it really is and compare it with how it was designed.
Guided sessions
The guided collaboration model mirrors how teams work on site. One person leads the review, and participants can opt in to be guided by that leader while remaining free to explore the twin on their own. When something needs attention, the leader can gather everyone at one specific location. Role indicators, avatars and a radar keep participants oriented, while shared annotations, measurements and issue features allow decisions to be recorded inside the digital twin itself.
Because a session can be joined from a desktop, a VR headset or an immersive room, participants are not tied to a single piece of hardware, which fits the company's emphasis on people taking part through their preferred device.
Dace Campbell, Cintoo's Product & Business Manager for XR & Metaverse, said that simply being in the same 3D space is not the same as working together. Teams need the structure of a real site walk, he said, where someone leads, people can break off to check details, and everyone regroups to discuss. Carrying that out in real scan data, on each participant's preferred device, is what makes remote reviews work in his view, and ultimately enables quicker, more confident decisions.
The speed and confidence benefits described are Cintoo's own characterization of the workflow rather than independently measured results. The company said further information is available on its website.