Product Design using Virtual Reality
A powerful shift is underway in the tectonics of the design industry. Design processes are being disrupted. The change brought on by this disruption is nothing short of astonishing. Not since the digital renaissance of the 80’s have we seen emergent technology which impacts all phases of design. Just as designers in the past who did not adjust to the new digital paradigm, today’s designers who fail to anticipate the current shift risk being discarded on (or abandoned at) the wrong end of the learning curve.
Designers now immerse themselves inside new, non-real environments. They see, hear, and experience a radical, new perspective on design. This new perspective is known as: Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR). These technologies mark the high side of today’s learning curve, and the pathway to the future. Investors are funding new VR/AR/MR startups with the same vigor and enthusiasm as they did when the Internet and world wide web were the the hot prospects of their day. Before considering the specifics of this emerging opportunity, it’s important to review a few basics that define spatially based media.
What is Product Design using Virtual Reality (PDVR)?
PDVR describes the application of Virtual Reality (VR) techniques to Product Design, Human Factors, and Customer User Experience. It’s a shortcut term for using VR to help create better designs. PDVR focuses on rapid, room-scale prototyping for maximum VR presence. At the heart of this approach is an emphasis on rapid iteration of design and timely review of milestones as the final product evolve…
Example 1
For instance, in designing a product like a popular brand tent using a PDVR process, the designer will better comprehend the interior space by sitting inside a VR rendering of the tent. Walking through the VR door aids in anticipating the ergonomic issues of access. Similarly, looking through a VR-created screen window provides the designer with a critical perspective on line-of-sight.
Grabbing a nearby cooler and rearranging the tent contents are frequent tasks which can also be easily understood in room-scale VR. The designer might even hang a lantern in the tent to identify possible areas that are too dark, or in shadow. When a modification is needed, the PDVR pipeline anticipates a quick edit to the CAD program, after which, the designer can visualize, once again, the revised VR-tent model in the middle of a VR forest.
Example 2
Another interesting example of Product Design is found in the design of a branded retail store. The designer generates the store design using CAD, then quickly proceeds to walk through the store in VR. The same access is available to Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), stakeholders, and end users. In most cases, feedback can be generated in real-time, as well as the reiterated design that results from the feedback.
Key Goals There are 6 key goals for PDVR:
1. Create a streamlined, simple development pipeline so designers can prototype without having to learn programming, or become an “expert VR designer.”
2. Focus on prototyping speed so that fast and iterative design ideation can take place in VR.
3. Create photorealistic models to enhance “VR presence, instead of (as opposed to) creation of VR “game assets,” which appear primitive and diminish believability . In addition to creation of high quality VR assets, the PDVR approach takes into account rendering efficiency with a special focus on the frame-rates needed to simulate presence.
4. Generate scenarios so products can be seen in appropriate environments and context.
5. Build “room-scale” models to identify scale, ergonomics and usability issues quickly, and early in the process.
6. Save money by saving time. Time in both the early mock-up stages, as well as more advanced user testing and prototyping. PDVR also helps designers create fewer real world prototypes, saving valuable budget resources while streamlining the go-to-market time frames.
Why are people interested in PDVR?
Within the next couple years, design management will be bombarded with multiple sales, marketing and promotional channels all wanting to put their particular brand of VR in their hands. Now is the time to get ahead of the rush and learn about VR, the vernacular and available products as well as the process and workflows necessary.
Just as when CAD first arrived on the scene, early adopters will have a decided competitive advantage over competition. Why VR and not AR/MR? It’s a great question, and the answer has to do with the distinction between leading edge and bleeding edge. Currently, the state of the art is easily accessible with hardware and software in the VR industry. Not true for MR, and the state of the art in AR is still largely confined to smartphones and tablets. Remember: the goal is a highly optimized pipeline, one which designers can iterate quickly.
Currently, this pipeline is only possible using VR. At some point within the next few years, MR is predicted to catch up, then even pass VR in concepts like presence and room-scale.
