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Ford's designers are learning to create 3D cars in VR

cnet.com

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Re: Ford's designers are learning to create 3D cars in VR

#41

Post by syntaxing »

jackbrookes wrote: post #34
syntaxing wrote: post #21

I design mechanical stuff for a living and I can't imagine that designing cars in VR is more efficient than CAD. There isn't any barrier right now from idea to CAD. If an engineer (or a scientist) can imagine it, an engineer will be able to design and create it digitally with current technology. I would say the current limitation is the manufacturing tools rather than the designing tools. Side note, I think the work…

Why do you assume CAD and VR are mutually exclusive? Interfaces of the future haven't been designed yet - but it's not hard to naively imagine taking any CAD program and turning the viewport into a 3D window. Something that allows you to use your head to look around it, use your fingers to spin the object around, pinch to zoom or other gestures. The rest of the interface could stay the same as it is now and interacte…

I think 3D mouse does pretty much what you ask for though[1]. I'm sure the possibilities are beyond my imagination with VR but I personally just can't see the benefits. Most engineers are pretty good with their abstract of space so I can't imagine VR being a necessity for design.

[1] https://www.3dconnexion.com/

Re: Ford's designers are learning to create 3D cars in VR

#42

Post by pen2l »

cjsawyer wrote: post #40
tlow wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are 3D programs, but not CAD. For CAD you'd expect Solidworks, Catia and PRO-E.

Modeling programs make art, CAD is for engineering. They’re very different.

Yes, but I want to point out on odd edge-cases that's not always true.

For example, when designing something for 3dprinting, I sometimes prefer modeling programs over CAD programs because I have control over, for example, however a sphere is made up (the style of polygons, tesselation, that sort of thing). When you're slicing for a 3d printer, you can get odd bugs if your stl is made in a non-optimal way.

Re: Ford's designers are learning to create 3D cars in VR

#43

Post by uhrlocher »

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/04/why-is-...

https://www.newsweek.com/2016/06/17/silicon-valley-takeover-...

https://medium.com/@preethikasireddy/why-im-leaving-silicon-...

https://getlighthouse.com/blog/silicon-valley-bad-managers/

https://www.philanthropy.com/article/A-Star-Performer-Create...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/internati...

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/emily-chang-brotopia-silicon-v...

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297481

https://thenextweb.com/insider/2017/03/11/bro-culture-poison...

https://www.quora.com/Is-the-culture-in-the-Silicon-Valley-b...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/ellen-pao-memoir-sil...

https://www.recode.net/2018/2/5/16972096/emily-chang-brotopi...

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https://www.wired.com/story/everyone-hates-silicon-valley-ex...

https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/silicon-valley...

https://yourstory.com/2017/07/silicon-valley-bro-culture/

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https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/silicon-valley-become-next-...

https://builttoadapt.io/so-you-want-to-build-a-silicon-valle...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3-bMDaMhLg

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/01/silicon-valley...

https://www.indiewire.com/2018/07/silicon-valley-actress-ali...!

https://www.theneweconomy.com/technology/silicons-sexist-bro...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17051800

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Re: Ford's designers are learning to create 3D cars in VR

#44

Post by carlosdp »

makx wrote: post #26
aetherspawn wrote: post #2

They obviously showed a lot of meticulously mated actual 3D components but those were all prepared in a CAD program. Sure, the VR sketch might be useful, but the visual part of the video is quite a lot of marketing spin when it’s not showing the abstract lines. And I’m not sure that VR is the best way to “feel” a car in this way either. A car is an extension of your body, so it’s just as important where/what your sho…

> They obviously showed a lot of meticulously mated actual 3D components but those were all prepared in a CAD program. Do you have any reference for that? If so, they wouldn't need gravity sketch at all. The most popular CAD programs already have VR support: Rhino -> https://www.mindeskvr.com/ Maya -> https://www.marui-plugin.com 3dsMax -> 3dsMax Interactive (Autodesk) Blender -> https://github.com/MARUI-PlugIn/Blend…

I've used most of those tools, they are all pretty terrible to use. You can't very easily take a rendering engine designed for massive geometric modelling and just plug VR into it without major performance sacrifices. I always got a headache after using them.

Re: Ford's designers are learning to create 3D cars in VR

#45

Post by carlosdp »

andybak wrote: post #23
aphextron wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically any usage of VR outside of gaming right now is guaranteed to just be marketing nonsense. The hardware simply isn’t there for real world professional usage as a productivity enhancing device. Some day we’ll be there, but the current state of even the most advanced HMDs is little beyond toy prototypes at this point.

The hardware is fine. (What's more arguably lacking is software) Yeah resolution could be better but it's far from being a deal breaker for viz, modelling etc. Curious to hear what you thought the blockers were?

No, it's definitely the hardware. Hardware makers like to tout that VR is waiting for its "killer app." What's really missing still is the "killer hardware." They're all still devkits (speaking as someone who owns one of each of the top headsets), it's just that when FB bought Oculus, suddenly there was a mad rush to plop the "consumer-ready" label on them. But we're not there yet, which can be evidenced by the re-orgs at Oculus.

You can't make Angry Birds or w/e on the VR equivalent of a Blackberry. No one's made the iPhone yet.

Re: Ford's designers are learning to create 3D cars in VR

#46

Post by ryoshu »

aphextron wrote: post #6
aetherspawn wrote: post #2

They obviously showed a lot of meticulously mated actual 3D components but those were all prepared in a CAD program. Sure, the VR sketch might be useful, but the visual part of the video is quite a lot of marketing spin when it’s not showing the abstract lines. And I’m not sure that VR is the best way to “feel” a car in this way either. A car is an extension of your body, so it’s just as important where/what your sho…

Basically any usage of VR outside of gaming right now is guaranteed to just be marketing nonsense. The hardware simply isn’t there for real world professional usage as a productivity enhancing device. Some day we’ll be there, but the current state of even the most advanced HMDs is little beyond toy prototypes at this point.

Virtual reality and pain management: current trends and future directions - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3138477/

Re: Ford's designers are learning to create 3D cars in VR

#47

Post by aphextron »

andybak wrote: post #23
aphextron wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically any usage of VR outside of gaming right now is guaranteed to just be marketing nonsense. The hardware simply isn’t there for real world professional usage as a productivity enhancing device. Some day we’ll be there, but the current state of even the most advanced HMDs is little beyond toy prototypes at this point.

The hardware is fine. (What's more arguably lacking is software) Yeah resolution could be better but it's far from being a deal breaker for viz, modelling etc. Curious to hear what you thought the blockers were?

>"Curious to hear what you thought the blockers were?"

1. Resolution is hopelessly too low for working with text

2. Ergonomics too awkward to wear for 8 hours at a time.

3. Total lack of multi-plane focus, no ability to sense depth beyond a few meters

These are strictly true for every HMD available, having owned and worked with them all extensively since DK2. I wish it wasn't true either, but it's just where we're at. One big thing that has been solved is tracking though. It's easy to forget what a quantum leap Lighthouse was in consumer grade tracking technology. Having sub-millimeter precise tracking and pose estimation was a huge part of getting VR to an MVP. That gives me hope the other problems can be solved, but there's a long way to go with the need for things like integrated eye tracking, foveated rendering, and full vision FOV being table stakes for a real consumer product.

Re: Ford's designers are learning to create 3D cars in VR

#48

Post by [deleted] »

mattnewport wrote: post #31
aphextron wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically any usage of VR outside of gaming right now is guaranteed to just be marketing nonsense. The hardware simply isn’t there for real world professional usage as a productivity enhancing device. Some day we’ll be there, but the current state of even the most advanced HMDs is little beyond toy prototypes at this point.

Our large medical device customers for VR surgical training would beg to differ.

[deleted]

Re: Ford's designers are learning to create 3D cars in VR

#49

Post by tedunangst »

aphextron wrote: post #6
aetherspawn wrote: post #2

They obviously showed a lot of meticulously mated actual 3D components but those were all prepared in a CAD program. Sure, the VR sketch might be useful, but the visual part of the video is quite a lot of marketing spin when it’s not showing the abstract lines. And I’m not sure that VR is the best way to “feel” a car in this way either. A car is an extension of your body, so it’s just as important where/what your sho…

Basically any usage of VR outside of gaming right now is guaranteed to just be marketing nonsense. The hardware simply isn’t there for real world professional usage as a productivity enhancing device. Some day we’ll be there, but the current state of even the most advanced HMDs is little beyond toy prototypes at this point.

Next they can put the design on the blockchain so you can verify the car you buy is the car they designed.
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