January 8, 2021

Virtual Reality has advanced to the point of being valuable to many industries, especially for developing products. In addition to being a platform for gaming and entertainment, in many ways VR has become an important computing platform for expressing creativity and validating ideas.

In product development, VR stands out from other tools and techniques as it allows us to step inside or move around a product already while designing it. Without VR and before prototyping, you are looking at it on a screen or paper. Though we have excellent tools at our disposal for that, VR adds another dimension to the understanding of our designs. This can prove very useful for clear communication with a big team and with various stakeholders.

VR allows us to view our sketches, models, renders, etc. in a virtual space around us, adding to the holistic understanding of the look & feel, functionality, and producibility of a product. It helps to quickly find out what works and what needs to change. Using VR early on in our product innovation process, we have the chance of getting insights that could save time and money by minimizing the risk of going in a potentially delusive direction. VR can make it efficient to do a large number of iterations and explore different design directions in a relatively short span of time.

At MMID, we are equipped with Oculus Quests and Gravity Sketch to serve our VR needs. We use Gravity Sketch to sketch in 3D space which produces distinctive designs with the ability to create variations quickly. It allows us to use mannequins to develop products with a human-centred approach and helps to discuss and present ideas. Usability and functionality insights are often gained as we explore our designs in VR. These could otherwise be missed until later stages of prototyping. VR is not only an ideation tool but contributes also as the product becomes more defined. It works exceptionally well for initial surface modelling, especially for products with organic shapes, and for producing 3D models which serve as a basis for 3D printing, CAD, and rendering.

Moreover, the Co-creation features of Gravity Sketch allows us to work together in a very unique way. Our VR specialists are able to meet in a virtual environment (remotely) to collaborate and innovate together.

Can your project benefit from our VR capabilities? Feel free to get in touch to discuss what we can do for you.

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