Vection brings 3D CAD model software into Augmented Reality with Varjo XR-3 & Nvidia’s Cloud XR 2
News at CES 2021: Vection Technologies Ltd’s offering is software that works in real time to adapt your existing CAD software to work in cutting edge VR & XR headsets. Vection also integrates with Nvidia’s Cloud XR 2.0 for 5G streaming (of CAD models) to any headset.
Article written by Micah Blumberg, with help from Cecile Tamura in interviewing the company.
At CES 2021 Silicon Valley Global News spoke to Gabriele Sorrento the Director of Vection Technologies which is located in San Francisco on Market St (and is able to meet local partners) and recently acquired Mindesk (where Gabriele is the CEO) Vection integrates a user interface between the CAD programs used by engineers and designers across the world with the Microsoft Hololens 2, Varjo XR-1 and Varjo XR-3
Watch the whole interview here:
Watch the whole interview above ^
You can still interact with your CAD scene with a mouse & keyboard, but importantly Vection provides support for using your two 6dof XR controllers that came with your VR or Mixed Reality headset.
With Mindesk you can collaborate with a colleague on the same CAD model. While you are editing the model in VR, a teammate can follow your operations and collaborate from the Desktop. Real-time collaboration accelerates brainstorming and decision making.
The addition of a volumetric window with mixed reality to CAD software allows designers & their clients to fully grasp even complex 3D assemblies, simulations, or point clouds.
A critical part of the vision of this product is that you are able to use your existing CAD software, with it’s proprietary scripting and other unique features in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality without needing to spend time programming your own XR interface or needing to compromise with the features of less capable program. So your experience is automatically adapted to the latest tools, controllers, and devices. Note: This does not yet (at the time of publication) work with all CAD software, but the vision is that eventually it will.)
Vection’s product offering allows professionals to view & edit their 3D CAD models, from any professional CAD software, in Augmented Reality at the full resolution, and in real time. That is profound in the sense that you can immediately get feedback from your customers regarding whether their expectations are aligned with your work so far.
This software is especially significant because without this a user might have to decimate their CAD models to fit them within a Unity environment first, before bringing them into VR, this would not be as useful for live feedback. With the Vection solution companies can save time and expense, while improving accuracy.
So we are talking about using 3D CAD software such Dassault Solidworks, McNeel Rhinoceros (and many more CAD software applications coming soon) in Virtual Reality and in Augmented Reality. This application brings the highest quality 3D graphics into your space, your office, at the absolute best viewing resolution.
Preparing and exporting your CAD model for rendering is a recurring waste of time and money. Simultaneously render and edit your models with Mindesk Unreal Live Link.
The value proposition is that this might improve the quality of the final work and or the speed of the development of the 3D model. It might save on the companies overall costs and or help that company improve the speed at which they can serve their customers.
The actual value proposition to each company ranges greatly depending on what your company is doing and also because there are so many different needs in the CAD industry. However in general we are talking about reducing 3D CAD development time from months to weeks, by implication the savings might scale to the largest projects.
This application opens amazing doors for designers who can for example use this to edit the design of a product for a customer in real time while that customer is in the room.
Vection has also been working with Nvidia to integrate Cloud XR 2.0. The integration of Nvidia’s Cloud XR means that you don’t need to always have a really powerful machine with you to show your CAD models to clients. You can, with a Quest 2 and a 5G connection, enter the Mindesk Vection environment in 3D.
The Vection Cloud XR integration is very powerful because it simplifies the cost and process of sharing CAD models with your customers who may only own a low end VR headset. This allows designers and engineers to work with the hardware that their customers already have in terms of sharing product developments remotely. That’s a key utility when it comes to providing service to customers at great distance, and in terms of providing service in the time of a pandemic.
For more information about Vectron please visit the Mindesk website:
To learn more about Varjo please see our previous article:
To comment on this article please visit the Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality and Virtual Reality groups that Cecile Tamura, Micah Blumberg, and many other wonderful moderators host on Facebook for you.
