The source code for Doom has been made available to the masses under the guise of a free license for the better part of 15 years now, where it is also fondly known as id Tech 1. Just when you thought that all possibilities of applying it has been exhausted, along comes Canadian construction company DIRTT Environmental Solutions (DIRTT stands for “Doing It Right This Time”) that will make us see the Doom engine in a whole new light. The company has developed a software known as ICE, which is based on the Doom engine.
This software is used to design blueprints for prefabricated buildings. After all, the Doom engine is capable of rendering a 3D space from a 2D floor plan, and ICE does that just as well. It will also be compatible with industry-standard design software such as AutoCAD, and engineers will then be able to come up with a virtual mock-up of a room, ranging from underlying building features like pipes and electrical lines.
DIRTT president Scott Jenkins said, “Because of ICE, we don’t have separate teams of manufacturers trying to coordinate with ordered engineering. You’d have to build the materials separately and then put them together later. That’s all electronic for us.” Right now, DIRTT intends to explore the possibility of integrating it with the Oculus Rift as well as other virtual reality devices into the design software.
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