Livonia – Attorney and entrepreneur Gilbert C. Cox Jr. is betting close to $3 million that 3-D computer design will become a routine tool for homeowners, city planners, architects and tourists. Since the early 1980s, manufacturers have used 3-D computer design, a technology that has revolutionized the creation of engine components, appliances and electronic devices. Instead of designing products by hand using standard drafting tools or by building expensive clay models, computer aided design long known as CAD systems allows designers to create 3-D images of a future product. While 3-D images can be manipulated quickly, the equipment necessary to run such systems can cost well over $50,000, said Cox, a partner at the Troy based law firm Cox, Hodgman & Giarmarco Inc.

In 2000, Cox partnered up with Rochester-based accountant John Melstrom and Andrew Horrocks, a partner with New York financial services company UBS Warburg to establish Vantage Point Technologies LLC in Livonia. The company develops and tests a software program for 3-D design that anyone with access to a desktop or laptop computer can use. The trio in 1987 founded Warren-based Comcorp Inc., which developed adjustable foot pedals primarily for the automotive industry. In 1997, the group sold Comcorp to Teleflex Automotive Group in Troy for $25 million, Cox said. Now the trio hopes to repeat the same success with Vantage Point. “Our goral s to bring 3-D design to the masses,” he said during a demonstration of the new software, called Perspective. “With a digital camera and some fundamental computer skills, anyone can set up a 3-D model of their home, office building or downtown district,” Cox added.

The software’s $2,850 price doesn’t make it a practical buy for everyday consumers, but Cox and his partners believe municipalities and service groups will use it to allow consumers to tour new and existing stores, restaurants, towns, office buildings and homes. “In five years, I could see someone going on the internet to look at a restaurant they might visit on a vacation to Rome,” he said. “With our software, people could see the restaurant on their computer screen, take a virtual reality tour of the interior, see its location within Rome and make a reservation.”

During the demonstration, Cox showed a 3-D model of downtown Birmingham that allows a computer user to fly 100-feet over the district or zoom in on a street sign or store front. One building owner recently used the software to show city planners how he planned to add two levels to a one-story storefront on Maple Road. “We’ve been pleased with Perspective so far,” said James Sabo, a Birmingham senior planner. “We’ve used it for mapping purposes, research on building heights and streetscape issues. “We do envision that the information will one day be on our web site. People could find a particular shop downtown and zoom inside to see what kind of products are on the shelf.”

Analise Pietras, project coordinator for DesRosiers Architects in Bloomfield Hills, said she has been using the software since its introduction in August. Close to a dozen organizations have purchased the software so far. Cox hopes to generate more than 60 sales next year. “If you can operate a computer game, you can operate Perspective,” Pietras said. “It’s as close to virtual reality as anything I’ve seen, and it’s easy to use. We’ve used it for one project so far, and it’s going well.”

Perspective is equipped with a library and allows users to create a building, add surrounding landscape and accessorize the scene with moving vehicles and pedestrian traffic, trees, interior furniture and signs. The software operates with Windows 98, 2000 or XP. A Pentium III class processor or equivalent is required as well as a graphics card with Direct3D hardware acceleration, Cox said. “If your child is planning to go to college, you could visit 10 universities on your computer without ever leaving home,” he said of the software’s future potential. “It has a lot of potential for the tourism, construction and design industries.”