Chaos Group has conducted an online survey. Group has recently published the annual report on the development of Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. Report has predicted the rapid rise of new software and technologies. These new tools would be more powerful, efficient and advance to meet the rising demand for technological innovation. To support this rapid rise, new investment and professional training is required.
The Published report is based on the survey conducted by Group. In this survey, total 5769 participants from 70 countries had participated. Survey questions were from different topics. Key topics include type of the technology used, challenges faced, respondent feelings and expectation about the future of the industry. Participants include both Freelancers as well as employees from studios.

Key Challenges & Changes
First part of the survey discussed about the key challenges and changes faced by the participants. Majority of the participants suggested that biggest changes are happening in the field of building information system (BIM) and virtual reality (VR) domain during the last few years. Next on the list, was the demand of sustainable design. Some of the key challenges highlighted are tight deadlines, low budget, and shortage of skills for high-end photo realistic content and increase competition.

Rise of Virtual Reality
Next section of the report is dedicated to Virtual Reality Technologies. Survey results suggest that either a large number of participants have adopted or experimenting Virtual Reality in projects or have plans to adopt it in near future. It is clear that VR has given more power to visualization artists to try new ways to visualize and represent the project. Due to large risk appetite and financial power, large firms are first mover in the Virtual Reality space and more than half of large firms have used Virtual Reality based 3D modelling. According to survey, Key software used to create VR content are VR, Unreal, Unity, Lumion, Escape and others in order of high to low percentage use.

Rendering & Cloud Services
Last section of the report includes the research about Rendering. Results show the increased use of external rendering and cloud services by participants to complete the projects. Report estimates that the use of cloud rendering could double or triple within a year due to cost advantage and ease of using. Main reason for faster adoption of cloud service is the shorter render time and multiple projects at one time.