Virtual engineering mockup prototypes gain ground and capability through virtual reality.

engineering mockup article

Once regarded as a pie-in-the-sky engineering mockup slice of science fiction requiring a full-face helmet-like headset, virtual reality (VR) is now fairly easily available, comfortable to use, and becoming affordable. In fact, it’s frequently used for product development in conjunction with CAD/PLM-based visualization solutions from the usual suspects—UGS, PTC, and Dassault Systemes.

In VR prototyping, the 3D image is often viewable with a sophisticated set of glasses that imperceptibly shift the wearer’s vision from one eye to the other using a rapid-fire shutter system synchronized to a computer. The technology can be used on platforms ranging from $2,000 PCs to four-, five-, or six-wall CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) systems that can cost $400,000 and more for fully immersive visualization environments. The results are amazingly lifelike and, in a CAVE or power-wall environment (a single or multiple rear-projection screen at least 20 feet wide), engineering mockup viewable in 1:1 scale or larger.

Because of this, the virtual prototype provides information previously only available from a full-scale physical prototype and, in some cases, data formerly inaccessible. The addition of sound and touch feedback to virtual prototypes has begun to create a sense of realism that blends the virtual with the actual. In some cases—particularly among automotive users—actual vehicle seats and steering wheels are used with tracked 3D viewing, the sounds of simulated car radios synchronized with the visualizations. Haptic gloves provide force feedback to simulate the feel of the visualized car interior while the user manipulates engineering mockup controls.