TechViz - Blog - AR / VR for engineering

Looking for a way to enhance your design/engineering/manufacturing process when working with CATIA V5 models? A great solution lies in 1:1 scale visualization with Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). These immersive technologies close the gap between the 2D screen of your CAD application and the physical world, and allow industries to exploit the power of digital prototyping as a competitive advantage.

And it gets even better when no 3D data is translated from your native CATIA V5 application to the VR environment.

You want your teams to use augmented reality or virtual reality in their daily work? Immersing yourself in a VR environment to work collaboratively on the same 3D CAD model offers many advantages to professionals. But unless you create the proper VR space, the immersive magic of using AR glasses, a VR headset or a VR CAVE will be lost.

No one wants to trip on a misplaced cable while walking around your future building, or hit a LED display while turning a 3D model upside down.

At its WWDC 2023 keynote, Apple finally unveiled Apple Vision Pro, his long-awaited mixed reality headset. Even if most of the features had already been leaked to the press, the moment is still dramatic.

Some companies spend countless hours building prototypes in real life and conducting tests on physical products. CAD software like SolidWorks have helped many engineers and designers by enabling them to work with 3D models. What if you could go even further with virtual reality?

Imagine being able to step into a virtual world from anywhere, using any device. No bulky VR headset, no expensive equipment - just pure, immersive virtual reality at your fingertips. That's the promise of Cloud XR, a cutting-edge technology that's revolutionizing the way we think about VR. With the power of the cloud and the speed of 5G networks, the future of virtual reality has never looked brighter

Immersive technologies play a crucial role in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry worldwide. According to a report from Statista, the market for augmented and virtual technology in medicine and pharma will grow by $4.64 million by 2025 thanks to many advancements in the healthcare industry in recent years.

Many industries are adopting AR and VR technologies inside their processes. For most use cases, traditional handheld controllers are more than enough in product-design and production processes. But for some precise use cases, adding VR finger tracking and haptic feedbacks is a real game-changer.

The history of VR has often been influenced by the defense industry. One of the first VR projects was developed in the 1960s for a US military combat system. Virtual reality has always played a significant role in the military field and was adopted by all services: army, navy, and air force. It is mostly used for army training purposes, but there are other use cases where VR is a powerful tool.

Augmented Reality has appeared in many of our daily uses, at a personal and professional level. We’ve come a long way since phone games like Pokemon Go in 2016. AR is not a passing trend. Especially in business. Adding a layer of information to the reality we experience offers many use cases in a wide variety of sectors: automotive industry, aerospace, healthcare, education, construction…

Many companies have yet to rely on VR for their process: AEC companies are still using 2D plans, engineers and designers are still working with CAD software developed 20 years ago, companies are still making many physical prototypes to compromise between engineering and design… Those methods are still usable but they entail many constraints and costs.