PanguVR mixes virtual reality and artificial intelligence to revolutionize interior design

Hello Diego, introduce yourself to my readers!

Hello everyone, I am Diego, the CEO of PanguVR.com. I am delighted to meet everyone here virtually.

Now a little bit about me. I was born in Beijing, China and grew up in the United States. I fell in love with computers (and computer games) at a very young age due to the influence of my father who is a neuro-physicist. After getting my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Comp. Sci. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, I worked for IBM Research in Silicon Valley as a database architect, and after that earned my MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. 😊 After that, I headed for China to pursue my dream and headed marketing and strategy for the release of the Microsoft A.I. product Cortana in China.

What does PanguVR do?

PanguVR started in March 2016 and now has a team of 30+ people all focusing on VR rendering technology, namely the ability to automatically convert exterior and interior scenes from 3D format to real VR. The process would take roughly 30 minutes depending on the extent of the 3D scenario. To achieve this desired level of speed and without loss of detail in shape, texture, lighting, reflection, etc. PanguVR trained rigorously using hundreds of Terabytes of data from real designers and architects and using various A.I. algorithms to improve over time. Based on this engine, we have launched three product lines: one is called Kool VR, which helps tens of thousands of customers from real estate, remodeling companies, and design firms to turn their 3D content into almost lossless VR.

[AN: if you’re reading this post from China, you can’t see the below Youtube video, so check its equivalent version on Youku]

The second product is called “91Pig”; here we implemented an S2B2C (supplier to business to consumer) model where all of our VR visual outputs are based on actual SKUs. In other words, what you see is what you get. 91pig creates the magical effect of blurring virtual with reality — the user can visualize furnishings for the entire household in VR at the touch of a button. You can see a demo of it here.

Our third product is called Pangu Smart Home, in which we demonstrate how IOT (internet of things) including smart appliances interacts with the user through VR. By offering an immersive setting with a fully interactive experience, a shopper can see how a smart home/setting works and aid his or her purchase decision.

[AN: In the below video of Pangu Smart Home, the user gives some commands in Chinese to the system, like “close the curtains”, or “change the color of light” and sees the home environment reacting accordingly (thanks to Miss S for the help in understanding this)]

[AN: if you’re reading this post from China, you can’t see the below Youtube video, so check its equivalent version on Youku]

I’ve read about the PanguVR engine. What is it? Do you have a custom game engine?

The aim in developing the PanguVR engine was to equip content producers to create immersive and interactive content, in UE4 (Unreal VR Engine), automatically meaning without any learning curve. Rather than spending weeks, designers can, without changing their approach use their tool of choice in 3D, and the PanguVR engine will handle the rest—it automatically converts the whole scene into fully immersive VR. Sounds easy? It involves as many as seven programming languages and algorithms spanning 3D optimization, auto occlusion generation, materials mapping, light placement, interaction auto-generation, etc.

Currently, we work with a leading format in China similar to 3DMax, and will soon expand to 3DMax, Sketchup, and span to more industries.

I’ve seen many companies working on interior design and virtual reality. Why are these two things a perfect match? What advantages does virtual reality bring to interior design?

First I will have to break down the basics of interior design a bit. The interior design actually can be divided into two steps. First, the hard finishing, which usually includes the foundation, wires, pipes, drywall, flooring, kitchen, bathroom—in other words, things that are hidden or do not move. The second part, however, is things that could move, which include all the furniture, curtains, decorations and such.

VR is a perfect match for hard finishing because often homeowners say “What if I change my dark hardwood floor to white marble? Or my wallpaper to a light green rainforest color?” VR would allow them to interactively see the change in an instant, something harder to do in a panoramic 360° view and dramatically less immersive.

[AN: if you’re reading this post from China, you can’t see the below Youtube video, so check its equivalent version on Youku]

Moreover, VR is even more perfect when the user wants to play with soft furnishings, because there are simply more items to see, experience, and manipulate. It is often the dealmaker when the customer can be in a future home rather than just see it as a flat image.

What is the thing that makes your company shine when compared with the competition?

Here I want to be a bit modest; there is no such thing as best at something but there are a few things we are proud of:

1. We have been 100% focused on VR rendering R&D for two and a half years training from the largest 3D dataset (hundreds of terabytes) in the world.
2. Fully automated SaaS-based rendering capable of handling 500+ square meters with “Ultra Real” effect.
3. Severs 70% of Online Interior Designers Market in China.
4. Create Photo-realistic images, panoramic 360° view, and VR for interior designers at 1/10^th of the average market price.
5. Profitable and with a clear business model.
6. A world-class team ready to change people’s lives with VR.

I’ve read that you are able to extract a perfect 3D model for a house from some photos and a flat floor plan. How do you achieve that?

Yes, we have done so in the past through the use of our 3D model repository and structure learning/deep neuro networks, but later found it easier and more useful to process 3D models from actual furniture manufacturers using our existing PanguVR algorithms.

Do you also do interior design in AR? If yes, what have you experimented with? What are the results?

We have experimented but decided to focus on VR because it allows us to control the entire visual experience. But perhaps we will come back to it since there are many innovations appearing in AR such as those seen in the new Google Pixel 3.

How do you envision the future of AI and VR together?

VR, as we all know, is a medium; it is a virtual world, a container in which we can see and experience. Limits are set only by our imagination and computing power. It is a limitless space in which we can play, learn, and enjoy services to the extent our imagination allows. Combined with AI technology such as image/voice recognition, speech synthesis, machine-human interaction, and machine learning, we can build a whole new world of services, such as a bank, a school, or entertainment such as a theme park or a movie theatre, where we will never have to wait in line—we will be able to get the services we need right from home.

For 91Pig, we are envisioning replacing 80% of interior soft furnishing designers. In the past two years, we have accumulated enough knowledge of interior design so that given the dimensions and hard finishing of a home, we can use AI-based algorithms to lay out multiple designs on the fly according to the customer’s requirements. This is a vertical and practical use of AI and VR, and we think it will eliminate the inefficiencies of the interior design process.

What will be the future evolutions and trends of interior design in VR?

This is something we are planning in stealth with 91Pig. 😊 It is about removing the “V” from “VR”.

How do you envision the future of VR in general?

The VR industry’s growth is still limited very much by hardware. The headsets are still cumbersome; the processing power required is still expensive, and the user experience can still be poor. On the contrary, the industry is working hard across the globe to combat these issues to make VR more convenient and affordable with great content to enjoy. The turning point will arrive soon, in the next couple of years.

According to recent trends of the VR industry, we know that reducing the cost of VR hardware, enhancing the experience, creating solutions for enterprises, and protecting IP are the four needs which will fuel Cloud-VR’s growth. We also believe that along with the development of 5G networks + 6DOF standalone VR headsets, experiencing VR will be as easy as using a tablet. This in return will drive the booming need of immersive content。

What are the differences between VR in China and in the rest of the world?

I returned to China from Silicon Valley in 2014 and have witnessed rapid changes in technology in Beijing and the rest of China. By sheer numbers, China has 1/5 of the world’s population and by far the largest internet population sitting at 800 Million+. All these could be potential users of VR, as demands for new technology continue to rise on par with purchasing power and standard of living. This fuels VR technology development, both in software and hardware in China.

One key difference perhaps is the sensitivity to price and utility. Using smartphones as an example, 8 out of the 10 top selling brands are domestic brands—people buy them because they are better deals, and the tipping point was the ability to manufacture smartphones under 1000RMB (roughly $143). This is also true for VR headsets in China, especially for All-in-One – people are having high hopes.

What are your future plans and future PanguVR plans?

Earlier I mentioned the imminent need for immersive VR content when 5G arrives; we want to be the foundation that enables content creation and turnkey solutions in VR for other industries and applications. We have big goals for PanguVR –to become the leader in enterprise Cloud-VR computing platform solutions. It will center on our core technology of 3D rendering in real-time and extends to CDN, low-latency streaming, distributed rendering, and GPU virtualization. These technologies will be packaged as a cloud service (PaaS) and will serve and prepare businesses across industries who want to leverage the benefit of VR and create more value.

Do you have anything else to add to my readers?

Technology brings disruption, and disruption brings new business models. Our next step will be focusing on raising round PreA of financing of one million Euro to complete our R&D work in bringing together more of AI & VR.

My email is [email protected], feel free to contact me if you want to know more about our company and/or would like to collaborate with us. Grazie!