Create

Solids are created by clicking and dragging out a selected primitive shape. The create tool is accessible on the left side of the menu or the Quick Access Menu. When creating a new shape, it will show temporary dimensions based on the surface it is hosted on. This gives you a good indication of the size and hosting behavior of the modeled geometry. Don’t worry if you cannot get the size right from the start; Arkio shapes remain flexible and will always allow you to stretch and update a shape to a more exact size later on. If you want to be exact, start by dragging out in two dimensions, then simply grab the face you want to move and drag it to the desired size.

Primitive shapes can automatically be split into floors for programmatic studies. You can toggle this mode with the wristband and control the default floor height in the settings panel on the utility menu.

Addition or subtraction

In addition to creating solid primitives, you can dynamically subtract them from their host shapes. Pushing hosted primitives inwards will automatically convert them to a void. To help keep editing fast and fluid, shapes can stay anchored to another. These subtractions/voids can extend throughout the shapes and even intersect other solid arkio shapes, such as the ground or the original host.

Hosting, rotation and guides

Arkio automatically calculates collisions, hosting, and rotation for new primitive shapes. When your laser hits a surface, it will highlight the anchor points and temporary dimensions of the shapes that will be created and glued together after completion.

Our guide system will help you align with other objects in your scene. By starting the creation when hovering a temporary guide extending from other shapes, you are able to create volumes with the same orientation in one gesture.

The default orientation of shapes and props will follow the direction of the plane/shape that you start drawing from. When you are drawing from an imported model, the orientation of each plane might be slightly different. If the rotation of a shape is incorrect, you can easily pick up the shapes with your hand in VR once they are created and orient them to the correct rotation. When using the laser move tool in VR, you can keep the shapes' existing rotation intact while moving. You can also use this to duplicate objects to a new position with the same rotation. You can learn more about this in our advanced editing tutorial videos.

Precision and custom sizes

Depending on your distance and units, shapes will be created in precision steps of meters/feet. If you want to add more precision, you can adjust the flexible shapes later on a smaller scale or move closer to the model, as the grid steps would change dynamically.

Using the Move and Edit tools, these shapes can be hosted on other surfaces or further adjusted and resized. Arkio's dynamic hosting, guides and rotation show best when you pick up a shape and bash it into other shapes in the scene.

Other primitive shapes

Arkio comes with a number of primitives that give you more design freedom. All primitives can be used as both solids and voids by pressing them into one another. Furthermore, all primitives can be used as hollow shells, where Arkio maintains the interior volume of the primitive no matter how it is scaled or skewed. A cube object consists of 6 faces that can be distorted into other hexagonal forms. Prism shapes (5 faces) can be used for roofs, ramps and other sloped objects. All of these primitive shapes can be used as a solid or void and can be distorted/edited at will.

When placing a prism, you can use the thumbstick or touchpad on your controller to rotate it into possible configurations. This allows you to quickly switch the roof or ramp orientation on placement.

Props

Arkio comes with some simple props, such as trees, furniture, and people. We would love to know which props you would like to see in our updates. You can always load your own props to get your own style, furniture, greenery, or other custom 3D/2D objects using Arkio's modeling system.

A preview of the selected props will appear on the laser hitpoint when the trigger button is lightly pressed. If the trigger is pressed, the object will be placed at that location. And if the trigger is held, it will continue placing more of those objects until it is released.

All props (even your custom imported ones) can be stretched and scaled using the edit tools. This allows more variation in your scene or design explorations by stretching your imported geometry.

Custom imported files

All 3D models placed in your device's import directory will be loaded into your asset drawer and become visible under the import tab, where they can be placed like normal Arkio props. This way, you can load in your own cars, people, building contours, or even complete Revit/Rhino/Sketchup models.

You can also load and place 2D references, such as images, sketches, and floor plans, to use and share as references during design sessions.