How to use VR in Enscape for project presentations

Learn how Enscape transforms project presentations through VR with a one-click immersive setup. This article walks you through using standalone EXE files to deliver VR seamlessly, even at client locations without Revit or Enscape installed. You'll see how to implement saved views or "teleport" points for smooth navigation in VR, enhancing client interactions and design feedback. This updated post also covers tips for first-time VR users and a wireless streaming workflow that no longer requires a high-powered computer at the client location.

Key takeaways:

• Getting into VR is remarkably fast. With hardware pre-configured, you can go from a powered-off computer to a fully immersive VR session in about 15 minutes.
• Standalone EXE files simplify client presentations. Exporting an Enscape EXE makes it easy to present on-site anywhere, even without internet access.
• Saved views make VR navigation client-friendly. Using starred views to teleport between locations lets the presenter guide the experience smoothly without disorienting first-time users.
• Hardware matters, especially GPU memory. VR demands significantly more processing power than standard rendering.
• Wireless streaming can eliminate the need for on-site high-powered hardware. Using NVIDIA CloudXR with a 5G hotspot, firms can stream full VR to a Meta Quest headset from a remote data center.

Many clients find value in exploring their projects in virtual reality (VR).

The application of VR in the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry empowers clients to explore the areas of the project that are important to them at their own pace, in a more natural way than by looking only at 2D plans and static renderings. This visualization experience can help expedite client buy-in for a proposed design solution and instill confidence in the design team's quality and progress.

Enscape can be your champion in the VR software category when it comes to a high-quality visual experience and ease of navigation.

In this article, I will cover the "must-know" details for delivering a successful VR experience for your staff, clients, or key stakeholders. For the official documentation, see the Chaos resources on the Virtual Reality Headset settings and the Standalone Executable Export feature.

What my article will cover:

• Starting VR in Enscape
• Using an EXE standalone for VR
• Streaming VR from an EXE
• How to create an Enscape EXE standalone
• How to teleport in VR with saved views
• Computer hardware for VR
• Dedicated VR spaces
• Wireless VR
• Tips for first-time VR users

Starting VR in Enscape

When VR hardware has been previously set up on a capable system, and your model is opened in Enscape, a fully immersive VR experience is literally a single click away! It is possible to go from the VR computer being completely turned off to being in VR in about 15 minutes.

Compare this with the useful but significantly more time-consuming process of making panoramas I wrote about in this blog post: Creating and Using Panoramas at Lake|Flato Architects

The process to get into VR only takes these three steps:

1. Open a supported model (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, Archicad, or Vectorworks)

2. Start Enscape

3. Enable VR

    

In this scenario, it is possible to make changes in the design platform and have them appear within a live VR session.

I was helping to facilitate a VR session in which a client was wearing the Meta Quest head-mounted display (HMD) and commented on the space he was in. The architect on the project was able to make that change in Revit, and just a few seconds later, the client yelled out, with a big smile on his face, "That is perfect... I love it!"

Using an EXE standalone for VR

To simplify the delivery of a VR experience, consider creating an Enscape standalone EXE file. This has many advantages, including:

• No Revit/SketchUp/Rhino, etc. license is required
• No Enscape license is required
• All models (host and linked) are included
• All textures are included

Thus, you can take the EXE on a VR-capable laptop to a client location that may not have internet connectivity and still deliver a successful VR experience. In fact, Revit/SketchUp/Rhino, etc., or Enscape do not even need to be installed on the VR-capable computer.

When using an Enscape Standalone EXE to deliver a VR experience, there are only two simple steps:

1. Start Enscape (by double-clicking the Standalone EXE)

2. Enable VR

As seen in the following image, the location to start VR is in a different place when using a standalone EXE file.

Streaming VR from an EXE (no high-powered local computer needed)

The Enscape standalone EXE also serves as the foundation for streaming full VR to a wireless HMD without a high-powered computer at the client location. The EXE can be hosted in the cloud using a third-party service, with rendered frames streamed to the headset over a network. This means the only thing you may need to bring to a client meeting is the HMD itself, and possibly a small 5G mobile hotspot if local Wi-Fi is unreliable.

Last year, I presented on this exact topic at NVIDIA GTC, sharing how Lake Flato, in collaboration with T-Mobile and QuarkXR, used 5G and NVIDIA CloudXR to deliver remote VR presentations to clients from anywhere. You can read more about that session here: NVIDIA GTC 2025: My Session with QuarkXR and T-Mobile.

This workflow opens the door for firms that want to deliver high-quality VR experiences without investing in a dedicated VR-capable laptop or tower for every traveling team member.

How to create an Enscape EXE standalone

Creating an Enscape standalone EXE is easy. Just click the EXE standalone icon, then enter a name and location to save the file. The file size can vary, but 300 to 800 MB is standard.

Of course, some corporate IT policies and anti-virus applications can restrict the use of non-signed and brand-new (i.e., creation date) EXE files. Work with your IT department to resolve these issues.

How to teleport in VR with saved views 

Within an Enscape standalone EXE, there is an option to have saved views, which facilitates teleporting around the project.

These views can be accessed from within VR or on the VR computer. These are a great way to outline the intended talking points during an onscreen, real-time client presentation or VR experience. They also make it easier to move between spaces and avoid having to get a client to ascend a set of stairs or travel to another remote part of a project.

To keep things simple for the client, if you give them a verbal cue first, you can click the starred view on the computer, which will cause the person in VR to instantly jump to the new location.

This "jump" is accomplished by the HMD fading to black, then suddenly emerging in the new location. There is no flying or animating between locations, which would be unsettling to most people.

Here is how you create and use saved/starred views in an Enscape standalone EXE:

• In the Enscape View Management pane, edit and star all desired views as shown in the following image.

• Once the standalone EXE is created and opened, a new (transparent) tab appears on the right-hand side of the application window.

• Clicking it expands the tab to display the marked views, as shown in the following image.

• Clicking one of the preview images takes you to that location in the Enscape real-time-rendered model.

• These same marked views can be seen in the VR HMD via the menu on the left controller. This allows the person in VR to jump to predetermined locations and then fully explore the model from there.

The nice thing about having to manually mark views is that it filters out all the irrelevant 3D views, which is especially helpful when using Revit, given the fact that there are often many temporary and poorly named 3D views in a project.

Computer hardware for VR

Virtual reality requires a lot of computer horsepower! Revit, SketchUp, and Rhino files can be massive. Unlike games, which are optimized for what you see on the surface, AEC models are much more detailed and therefore require a lot more processing power.

While Enscape can get by with middle-of-the-road computer specs for non-VR visualization, you must have above-average specs to deliver a reasonable (i.e., comfortable) VR experience to your clients and design team.

Graphics cards for VR

Graphics cards are one of the most essential hardware components. At a minimum, for onscreen real-time rendering, Enscape recommends NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti or AMD RX 6800 or better/newer GPUs. For VR, they recommend NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti or AMD RX7900 XT.

For large complex projects, it is crucial to have a large frame buffer, i.e., GPU memory. At Lake Flato, we use NVIDIA RTX Pro-series cards with 24 GB of dedicated memory. Using a GPU resource monitoring tool, such as GPU-Z, we have seen 14 GB+ of memory in use.

If Enscape runs out of GPU memory, it does not run slowly. Instead, it closes suddenly. So, having the proper resources is essential for performance and time that would otherwise be required to remove detail from the model or make it smaller.

The great thing about using NVIDIA RTX-series GPUs is that Enscape leverages many of their enhanced onboard features, including AI-based Deep Learning Super Sampling (NVIDIA DLSS).

Here is a post I wrote on that topic: Enscape Leverages NVIDIA DLSS for Improved Performance and Quality.

The following specs are not meant to be the definitive hardware requirements for VR, but rather an example of what has worked well in my experience, using contemporary components at the time of writing.

My VR hardware

As a member of the Dell Pro Precision Ambassador program (#DellProPrecision), I occasionally receive hardware to test. Here is what I tested recently and used to write this article.

Personal laptop:

• Dell Pro Max 16 Plus (MB16250)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 265HK (2.60 GHz)
• 64 GB CAMM RAMM
• Windows 11 Enterprise
• NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell Notebook Edition

Personal VR-capable desktop computer:

• Dell Pro Max Tower T2 (FCT2250)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 9 285K (3.70 GHz)
• 128 GB RAM
• Windows 11 Enterprise
• NVIDIA® RTX™ PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition (600W), 96GB GDDR7

As noted earlier in the EXE streaming section, you may not always need this level of hardware at the VR session location. With CloudXR-based streaming, the heavy computing can live in a remote data center, and the user only needs the HMD.

Dedicated VR spaces

To facilitate VR, a certain amount of space is required. More is better. Lake Flato has semi-dedicated VR spaces like the one shown below. These spaces may be checked out in Outlook. They each have a dedicated computer and Meta Quest 3.

This space has the following features:

• A large, clear "play area" to the side of the display
• A large display so others can see what the person in VR sees
• Seating in front of the display
• A vented cabinet for the VR computer
• A dedicated Wi-Fi router to facilitate an untethered VR experience (more on wireless VR later)
• Conduit in the wall, between the computer cabinet and the display (for concealed cables)

The VR HMD is calibrated to the floor, so the VR experience is aligned to the height of the person using it. This also means you can grab a chair and sit in VR to get a sense of a perspective from a conference table (see photo below) or at a reception desk or nurses' station to study sightlines.

 We also 3D-printed HMD and controller holders that are screwed to the inside of the VR computer cabinet, where they are also plugged in to keep them charged.

Wireless VR

The Meta Quest 3 has been Lake Flato's primary VR system for Enscape, replacing the Quest 2 we relied on for several years.

The Quest 3 is ideal given its inside-out tracking (no external sensors are required), its improved pancake lens optics and higher resolution displays (which deliver a noticeably sharper image compared to the Quest 2), its ability to work tethered, and its ability to connect via Wi-Fi and even work with NVIDIA CloudXR in support of streaming full Enscape VR over the internet.

Here is a post I wrote on NVIDIA CloudXR: NVIDIA CloudXR for AEC, and here is a case study regarding Enscape VR with NVIDIA CloudXR and Innoactive.

A simple, unmanaged Wi-Fi router can be connected to a VR-capable desktop/laptop PC. This WIFI router is not connected to the internet. Instead, it is used to communicate wirelessly with the Quest 3, thereby eliminating the cumbersome cable between the PC and the HMD. This gives the person in VR a lot more freedom to move and turn without getting tangled up.

Steps required to use Quest 3 with Enscape

There is not enough space in this post to list all the steps required to use the Quest 3 untethered with Enscape, but here is a high-level overview of the process:

Prerequisites (must be done once):

• Meta Quest 3 setup per Meta instructions (as a standalone device, not connected to a computer)
• Connect a dedicated Wi-Fi router to computer
• The computer or the Wi-Fi router can be connected to the internet (but neither has to be connected to the internet)
• Install the Meta Horizon Link (formerly Meta Quest Link) app on your PC
• Follow Meta steps to set up a Quest 3 using Air Link
• Enable Air Link within settings (if not already done during the setup process)
• Install Steam and Steam VR

Per use setup steps:

• Turn on Quest 3 and define "play area" (within Quest 3 HMD)
• Quest 3 will remember the same space in the future
• Start the Meta Horizon Link app on the PC
• Connect HMD to PC (within Quest 3 HMD)
• Connect Wi-Fi to the dedicated Wi-Fi router (use the 5G option)
• Connect the listed PC via Air Link
• Notice the Quest is now in “Rift mode” and has a different UI
• Start Steam VR (on the PC)
• Start Enscape (on the PC). Click to start VR
• Troubleshooting: Switch from Meta to Steam VR to properly enable VR (within the Quest 3 HMD)
• Troubleshooting: If Enscape appears to be stuck trying to start via the Meta software (i.e., VR is not working properly), click the Meta button on the controller once or twice to back out to the Rift UI
• Troubleshooting: Click the Steam VR icon next to the Meta icon

You are now in full VR in an untethered Meta Quest 3 headset!

Tip: To minimize reconnection issues when the Quest 3 goes to sleep between users, place a piece of tape over the sensor between the eyes on the HMD to keep it running. This will wear down the battery more quickly, but if fully charged, it should last long enough for a single client VR session, 1 to 2 hours.

Here's a video I created that shows how to use an Enscape EXE file to deliver a full VR experience using a Meta Quest 2:

Tips for first-time VR users

Most clients and many design team members have never put on a VR headset before. A few minutes of upfront guidance can make the difference between a memorable experience and one that leaves someone feeling disoriented or skeptical of the technology. Here are some tips I have found helpful when introducing someone to VR for the first time.

1. Set expectations before the headset goes on

Briefly explain what they are about to see, what the controllers do, and that they can stop at any time. The first 30 seconds of being in VR can be disorienting, so a short verbal preview helps a lot.

2. Adjust the headset for a clear image

The biggest reason people say "this looks blurry" is that the HMD is not positioned correctly on their face. Take a moment to help them adjust the straps, slide the headset up or down on their head, and (on the Quest 3) tweak the IPD slider on the bottom of the HMD until the image is crisp.

3. Start the user in a seated or stationary position

Even if you plan to walk them through the project, begin by having them stand still or sit in a chair. This lets them get oriented to the virtual environment without worrying about tripping or bumping into something.

4. Use teleporting (marked views) instead of free movement at first

Moving with the joystick can cause motion sickness for new users. Jumping between starred views avoids this issue entirely and is a much friendlier introduction. Once they are comfortable, they can start exploring on their own.

5. Keep verbal cues clear and calm

The person in VR cannot see you, so let them know before you teleport them, when someone else is approaching, or if you need them to step in a certain direction.

6. Watch for signs of discomfort

If someone is staying very still, holding their breath, or asking to take a break, take the headset off and let them sit down. VR fatigue and motion discomfort are real, and most people are fine after a minute or two of rest.

7. Limit sessions to 15-20 minutes for first-timers

This is plenty of time to explore a project and form impressions, without overwhelming someone new to the technology. Longer sessions can come later once the person is comfortable.

8. Have water and a chair nearby

It seems simple, but it makes a difference. Removing the HMD after even a short session can leave people a little warm or thirsty, and having a place to sit while they recap their impressions is a nice touch.

9. End with a brief recap

Right after the headset comes off, ask the person what stood out, what surprised them, and what they would change. The feedback is freshest in the first minute or two, and this is often when the most actionable design comments come up.

Conclusion

Enscape offers "best-in-class" real-time rendering quality and ease of navigation in the AEC market space. With literally two clicks in Revit, or another supported design application, you can be in VR, exploring your model. With the addition of Enscape standalone EXEs and CloudXR-based streaming, you can now deliver that same experience to clients across the country without lugging along a high-powered workstation.

This technology offers a compelling opportunity for design teams to verify and review the design internally, as well as a more natural way for a client or stakeholder to explore and experience the proposed design. This is clearly not a fad or gimmick, as the response from clients, tech- and non-tech-savvy alike, has already been high praise.

👉 Try VR in Enscape