Virtual Reality for DWF and DWFX

[ChSchmidt]

I suggest the ability to create a VR Viewer for DWF and DWFX files, as an addition to Design Review (would be the best choice, could be a paid Pro version) or an additional product.

The Idea of VR for these filetypes is not a "Bling Bling" VR with a lot of material and lightning stuff, it should be a quick and performant way to give the engineer the ability to walk in his creation, without having to import it to MAX etc., simple VR for engineers to check and visualize designs.

Features should be:

- quick in VR without any preparation

- selectable views

- measure inside VR

- annotate in VR and save annotation in DWF

- meta data of parts and assemblies displayable in VR

This could be a game changer on the market, anyone who can publish DWF would have the ability to easy use VR in the design process.

Nearly any Autodesk Design Product can publish DWF, you would even be able to choose your DWF Preview from Vault and WALK IN, company wide.

[dgorsman]

There's a reason why files have to be imported into 3DSMAX Interactive, Unity, or other tools before they can be used in VR.  Without the processing you won't get the speed you're looking for, as design models have very different criteria than visualization models e.g. solids vs. meshes.

It's also difficult to compete with the established players in the arena - just look at what happened to Stingray and Revit Live.  And they can already import FBX files.

[ChSchmidt]

The idea is to use DWF as the VR format, which is mostly generated bei checking in files or jobprocessor (or dropping it in the vault in case the interface doesnt support DWF publishing).
We already have the Viewer application, Design Review, there just has to be added a VR Mode.

Most people think there has to be something additional created in an additional application, but the main thing in VR is the camera setup (need 2 in a specific combination and lens ) and navigation (get the controller working), the 3D geometry is already there.
The things you do with Unity and Stingray is to get texture and lightning on an already exitsting imported geometry and things like in scene manipulation of objects etc..

If you only want to check designs how they would appear and look like in reality then a simple VR without additional editing and mastering would be enough for the designer.

[ChSchmidt]

In Addition:
I'm in the VR sector for about 2 years now, certainly have the equipment, have tested and implemented a lot of systems , and have also tested a lot of software for this approach.
I already know this works fine, there is a collaboration application (Not Autodesk, so I won't name it here) we use for this purpose. It is a viewer and collaboration tool, which has a VR mode, same file different viewing mode.
But why use a 3rd party collaboration application, when we only need VR, and we already have a really good viewing format, creatable and accessable by almost every Autodesk Product.
DWF is lightweight format, I think this is good approach for VR Viewing.