Features of PORTER Material Selection

Floor plan digitization with the click of a button – thanks to artificial intelligence

Upload the 2D floor plan of a single- or multi-story piece of residential real estate to our PORTER AI module. Thanks to artificial intelligence, a 3D model of the apartment is generated in no time and is immediately accessible to all project stakeholders. Note: Depending on the complexity of the floor plan, the quality of the 3D model varies. PORTER currently handles about 75% of the transformation, providing a valuable basis for your 3D further processing.

This can be used collaboratively in the BIM process and exported in various formats to your CAD programs.

Alternatively, you can seamlessly import the 3D data of your planned project from Revit or SketchUp via the PORTER plug-in and thus lay the foundation for precise material selection of your real estate projects in PORTER Material Selection.

To PORTER Floor Plans

PORTER as part of your planning concept

PORTER is compatible with your planning concept. Based on the 3D data of your newly created real estate project, flooring, doors and soon also wall paneling as well as bathroom fixtures are automatically recognized.

Note: For the automatic object recognition an appropriate preparation of your data is necessary. You can find out which requirements have to be met when preparing data for integration into PORTER in our 3D guidelines. We will be happy to provide you with these upon request.

High-end visualization of real estate projects – even on the simplest devices

PORTER can be used on any laptop, tablet or desktop computer with a stable internet connection. A high-performance computer isn’t necessary! Thanks to streaming technology (currently in beta version), your project is displayed in superb 3D quality online.

Real estate tours from any location with the multi-user feature

“From any location” really means from any location. With the multi-user feature, multiple parties can move through a building and select materials at the same time in virtual reality and in the desktop view. In real time, from anywhere in the world and transparently for everyone involved in the project.

Viewing & spatial experience of your virtual real estate projects

Walk through, design and experience your projects absolutely authentically in Virtual Reality. Augmented Reality (AR), on the other hand, offers a further, very special added value: project your virtual project into the real environment, e.g. onto the future building site, and then virtually walk through and select materials for the real estate within the real environment. With the PORTER Android app – currently for Google, soon also for Apple – you can view your projects in 3D from anywhere and experience the immersive AR real estate projection via tablet.

Linked to manufacturer databases with real products

PORTER is connected to real interior finishing product databases of leading brand-name manufacturers with their actual collections and all product data. This currently includes interior finishing products such as flooring, doors, wall paneling and bathroom fixtures. The PORTER cloud makes sure the planning databases and product selections are always up-to-date for everyone involved in the project. For an authentic, emotional spatial experience already in the early planning stage of your real estate projects.

Tailor-made material selection for every real estate project

The right flooring for any layout

Benefit from the product and material variety of the quality flooring products of brand-name manufacturers linked in PORTER during material selection of the flooring in PORTER. And it’s all experienced and configured interactively! This includes choosing materials, selecting the desired installation pattern and the global product pre-selection for all flooring areas in the overall project.
The right door for any construction project

From interior doors to front doors or even balcony and patio doors in different materials and colors – door selection in PORTER ensures design and planning security.
The early definition of the wall paneling

Wall design – for both interior walls and façades – is one of the first decisions made when planning and designing real estate projects. This makes the ability to provide a visual experience early on all the more important in order to avoid making the wrong decisions. In PORTER, you define all relevant design aspects early on, such as materials, colors and textures.
Multifaceted bathroom fixtures for exclusive interior design

For new construction, renovation or reconstruction: In PORTER you plan and design the bathrooms & sanitary areas of your real estate projects for an interactive experience and transparent costs. It starts with the sink and toilet areas and continues to showers, bathtubs and plumbing fixtures in a broad assortment of materials, styles and color variations.

Manual naming & global product preselection of the flooring material

During project processing via Revit or SketchUp, the names of the tagged flooring are automatically read out and displayed in PORTER Material Selection. In this way, flooring surfaces can be distinguished not only visually, but also by name. In addition, these can be further individualized via manual naming (e.g. “floor entrance area”).

Do you prefer a specific flooring and want to define it for all flooring areas? Then use our global preselection to select the desired product, add it to all recognized surfaces and then view the flooring surfaces selected in this way in the overall project.

Configure products dynamically

All interior finishing products can be changed dynamically and in real time during material selection, viewed and calculated in a price-transparent manner. From the desired flooring directions (0°, 45°, 90°, 135°) to a wide selection of materials and colors (flooring and wall paneling), different structures (wall paneling) as well as designs (bathroom fixtures) – in PORTER you can select materials for your real estate projects at an early stage and with planning security at transparent prices.

Create area and price calculations as well as parts lists in real time

Algorithms running in the background make it possible to calculate area ratios in real time and create quantity/parts lists that include pricing. That translates into maximum project and budget transparency for your real estate planning!

All products at a glance – the material selection protocol

The material selection protocol, which is automatically generated after the material selection process has been completed, summarizes all the required information on the finally selected interior finishing product ranges at a glance. This overview records exactly which residential-/office units within the overall project were configured with which products – sorted by product category (wall paneling, doors, flooring, bathroom fixtures) with all product information including product price or required total material selection budget.

This protocol can thus be passed on directly to all relevant project participants, processed and exported as a downloadable Excel file for direct ordering from the manufacturer.

Construction documentation in Virtual Reality

Have you composed a particular scene in Virtual Reality – for example with the materials you would like for a room – and want to be able to look at it later or give other team members access to it? Take a screenshot and you can easily view, download or send it by email later in the web application.

In addition, in the VR-meeting you can easily add markers and notes to the walls and objects with the controller, measure distances such as ceiling heights from point A to point B, and leave notes. That makes potential requests for modification transparent and visible for everyone.

Links to planning software Revit and SketchUp

With the PORTER plug-in for Revit and SketchUp, we make it possible for you to seamlessly transition from your customary planning tool for your real estate projects to digital, real-time material selection and further processing in PORTER. With just one click, your 3D data is imported to the PORTER cloud and interpreted. In this way, corresponding designations (e.g. “floor entrance area”) are automatically recognized, read out and made available for material selection directly in PORTER.

Note: For the automatic object recognition an appropriate preparation of your data is necessary. You can find out which requirements have to be met when preparing data for integration into PORTER in our 3D guidelines. We will be happy to provide you with these upon request.

PORTER plug-in for SketchUp

From the construction of your 3D model in SketchUp to real-time material selection in PORTER in a few easy steps.
PORTER plug-in for Revit

From the construction of your 3D model in Revit to real-time material selection in PORTER in a few easy steps.

View the interior of the building in different layers

You can now simply cut through your real estate project vertically – using a slider, you control the cutting edge you want and thus gradually fade out or in ceilings, walls and other areas of the interior. This allows you to look into the interior of the building from every conceivable perspective and view the level relevant to you separately.

Adjustment of real lighting conditions

For a realistic visual representation of your planned real estate projects, you can accurately simulate the light and shadow conditions at different times of the day and year inside and outside the building. The adjustment of the corresponding parameters – such as time and month – to determine the position of the sun is possible for all imported real estate projects via the PORTER AI module or via Revit or SketchUp.

3D model view in virtual reality

Look at your 3D model in virtual reality, rotate it and view it from any angle. A position indicator for the current user and others involved in the project combined with the ability to move freely in the building provides a mutual and absolutely transparent understanding of the project.

Share your real estate project with other stakeholders

Do you want to share your real estate project with other project stakeholders? We simplify project collaboration for you by allowing you to independently create a time-limited sharing code, thus giving other stakeholders access to the project as well.

PORTER – features of the software platform

Select materials for construction and renovation projects virtually even before breaking ground, experience them authentically, plan on-budget and market them at an early stage. In this way, you benefit from the intuitive software features that are specially tailored to PORTER Material Selection.