NBN Online for the week of June 20, 2005

Real Pointers for Creating Effective Virtual Reality Tours

Virtual reality tours of communities and properties can give prospects a taste of what’s in store and, more importantly, boost sales before you build.

To get the most out of your virtual reality (VR) presentation, here are some top-line recommendations to consider when working with a VR solutions provider:

•  Concentrate on your best selling points.
•  Add details that will resonate with the right audience.
•  Use custom decors sparingly.
•  Make sure the VR accurately represents the look, feel and scale of your intended construction.
•  Discuss ways to multipurpose the content.
•  Stay on top of the production so your vision is reflected in the final product.

Let’s examine each point briefly:

Virtual reality is first a marketing tool that needs to be integrated in the overall marketing strategy. It is important that your VR firm is marketing-oriented and savvy and understands your target audience and what will turn them on. Therefore, it is important that you clearly communicate your marketing and sales strategy.

With this cool technology, the initial reaction is to be overly ambitious and want to “show everything!” To avoid this temptation, keep these two points in mind:

• Everything ― every piece of room, surface and tree — must be modeled in 3-D.
• Just as with a movie, the normal bits get boring (and expensive).

When storyboarding the VR tour, think of telling a story ― or selling a dream — and concentrate on the showstoppers.

For instance, if the entrance to a clubhouse has a spectacular three-tiered fountain, you’ll want the VR tour to begin with a “slow drive” up the circular driveway toward it. If the entrance is nothing special, start the tour in the lobby. Similarly, you don’t have to show every single room.

Again, stick to the features with the broadest mass appeal, such as the special grass tennis courts or outside pool deck.

Pay attention to the details, especially when you are projecting a desired lifestyle. For example, if you are creating a virtual lifestyle experience for an active adult community, you don’t want to use heavy metal as the soundtrack. Similarly, if live models are used in the production, they should be age appropriate.

People in their 60s will not emotionally connect to a scene of beautiful 20-somethings playing tennis and cavorting in the pool. The intended audience also will direct the VR content.

A residential development catering to young families should show what parents care about, such as backyards, public playgrounds and parks.

For an upscale housing development, you will want to signal affluence by putting BMWs, Volvos and Mercedes in the driveways.

Remember: psycho-demographic cues are powerful selling tools. If I can’t afford a Mercedes, I probably will shy away from a neighborhood — virtual or real ― where everybody else on the block is driving luxury automobiles.

It can take dozens of hours to build a realistic sofa, desk or table in 3-D. Therefore, unless you are working with a name designer who is creating a unique interior, let the VR producer furnish the rooms using existing stock material.

The architectural details and spatial arrangements should be true-to-life, but unless the furnishings will be standardized, they should not be built from scratch. VR production companies, especially those that specialize in real estate, should have large libraries of ready-made furniture and households accessories. You can explain the general look and feel you want — contemporary, upscale or traditional — but unless the furnishings are intrinsic to the space, don’t get hung up on the itty-bitty details.

Another important factor in selecting your VR vendor is their technical and industry expertise. Of course, they need computer graphic artists and animators who are versed in leading software programs like Maya, PhotoShop or 3-D STUDIO MAX.

But the VR solution provider also should understand your business. Today’s leading virtual models have now reached the level of merchandising comparable to a built model. Furniture should not be placed just to fill the rooms, but as part of the overall design and theme of the space ― props to help tell the “story.”

There should be professionals on staff who know how to interpret and work from interior decor plans, color boards and demographic information. Therefore, the VR production team should include interior designers and landscape designers as well as trained architects.

Remember, it is digital. Once a VR tour is made, it can be easily and inexpensively transferred onto different media, including “demo” CD-ROMs and DVDs, a Web site with streaming video capabilities, a salesperson’s laptop or a large plasma screen in the sales office. You also can choose frames from the VR to be made into print images. Once again, the idea is to give your sales force and partners great visuals in which to pre-sell the property.

Building 3-D models from scratch is an art. However, you should not defer all production decisions to the vendor. To the contrary, it is important that you and your key planners play an active role in the process. It is a lot easier (and cheaper) to fix a problem early in the design stage than when the VR is finished. Collaborative, Web-based systems now let people in different locations review work in-progress online — literally frame-by-frame.

Our final advice is to “Stay tuned!” The enabling technology keeps getting better and better.

This means faster rendering time, higher resolution and greater realism. Moreover, innovators in the field are transforming VR tours into mini-movies, with the addition of plot lines, characters and dialogue. The only caveat is that these virtual environments are becoming so appealing, people will want to live in them!

Marc Lamoureux is president and founder of Alpha Vision, which employs Hollywood-style special effects to create fully-furnished virtual model homes and Web-based selling tools that enable prospective home owners to design their "dream house" online and print a hard copy to take to the developer’s sales office. He has served as a collaborator for many of the nation’s top builders. For more information, visit the Alpha Vision Web site at  www.alpha-vision.com, or call him at 866-556-2574.

Originally published in NAHB’s Sales + Marketing Ideas magazine. ©2004. 

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