App for a Structural Building Products Company

The company, founded more than six decades ago, is one of the world’s largest suppliers of structural building products.

Client Requirement

Being a leader in structural building products, the company wanted to extend their offerings in terms of assistance in buying the correct product for high structural integrity.

To assist with the selection, the customer must be able to virtually see the product at the building site and place it upon the structure to visualize the product. The customer must also see the 3D view of the fitting along with descriptions to make sure they are used appropriately.

App Features

Find your Product

  • Due to the huge number of products, Home screen provided the option to search for a product by entering product number or scanning a barcode on product.
  • If the user chooses the scan option, app opens the camera allowing the user to scan the barcode and retrieve appropriate information for that product.

Bracket Connection Type

  • Every bracket can be used in different connection types.
  • Thus on selecting a bracket, user is displayed images of different connection types and he/she can choose a type that suits the best.

Bracket Details

  • Once user selects a connection type, the app view the bracket details along with a 3D view of the bracket with selected connection type.
  • User can interact with the 3D model by rotating the model on its axis to view it from all sides.
  • The screen also has MIN and MAX options which allow users to switch between the number of fasteners required within a bracket depending upon their usage.
  • To view the bracket in the working environment, user can select the AR option.

Augmented Reality Experience

  • This feature allows to deploy bracket virtually using the app on the construction site to see what will best fit the requirement.
  • User can point at a joint and adjust the guide marker, rotate it on it axis to match the direct of joint before placing the 3D Model of the bracket.
  • Rotating the model allows user to switch between the different connection types.
  • App allows to switch between MIN and MAX options and reflects the same on the 3D bracket.

Challenges

  • We wanted to provide a smooth experience for the app user to switch between the different connections of a bracket while trying it with augmented reality.
  • After few iterations, it was clear that providing a dynamic switch was the only solution to achieve that.
  • Because the user was able to pinch, touch to rotate/adjust the position of the 3D bracket, we had to remember its position in the AR view and apply different transforms to display all connection possibilities for the bracket. It turned out to be a great solution at the end.