AUGMENTED REALITY, VIRTUAL REALITY AND MIXED REALITY

Introducing immersive design

More than just cool technologies, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) are changing how we design, create and experience everything from factories, buildings and cars to training, learning and entertainment.

Visualise buildings using virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality

Reshaping the world of design

AR, VR and MR represent both a disruption and an opportunity for people who make things. Using these technologies, you can transform 2D designs into interactive, immersive digital models, giving context to your digital information.

Using immersive design for automotive design review

A new platform for content creation

With immersive design, engineers, designers and builders can quickly and easily turn their CAD data into interactive, real-time experiences. AR, VR and MR let you navigate data-rich design environments, so you can make better-informed decisions and create compelling experiences.

How do AR, VR and MR work?

  • Using augmented reality to visualise a building before it’s made

    AUGMENTED REALITY

    AR adds digital elements to the real world and projects them onto your line of sight. Using AR, workers can view an overlay of 3D models and project information at a construction site.

  • Factory simulation with virtual reality

    VIRTUAL REALITY

    VR replaces the real world with a simulated one in 3D. With VR, you can experience a simulation of a factory you’ve designed – with machines running – all before it’s built.

  • Mixed reality of Autodesk Fusion 360 with Microsoft Hololens

    MIXED REALITY

    MR is a hybrid of virtual reality and augmented reality (US site). Using MR, you can touch a real table and use it as an interface to manipulate a digital model.

Featured AR, VR and MR software

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Applications for immersive design

  • Design in 3D with conceptual design" title="Design in 3D with conceptual design

    CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

    Designing in 3D helps you to understand overall scale, view how design changes in real time and experience your design as though it had already been built.

  • Review your designs at scale in 3D" title="Review your designs at scale in 3D

    DESIGN REVIEW

    Eliminate expensive and time-consuming physical prototypes from the design review process by visualising at scale in 3D. 

  • Train and practice skills in virtual reality

    TRAINING AND SIMULATION

    With VR, users can train in dangerous and complex environments, practising their skills within the safety of a virtual world.

  • AR and VR for immersive storytelling

    IMMERSIVE STORYTELLING

    AR and VR can help you to tell immersive and engaging stories about your design, product or game. As you market your project, customers can give feedback in real time.

  • Control remote systems with VR

    REMOTE SYSTEMS CONTROL AND ANALYSIS

    With VR, you can remotely monitor, control and analyse dangerous or inconveniently located systems from a safe environment.

Using immersive design for automotive design review

Using BIM and VR in design

Starbucks Japan is creating VR content for its shops using Building Information Modelling (BIM) data distributed through Revit Live software. Revit files are converted into VR content, which can be used for presentations and information sharing.

See how people are using AR and VR

Big data is transforming how architects design buildings, but the combined forces of big data and virtual reality will advance the architectural practice by leaps and bounds.

Learn how the current trends in technology – including VR, AR and MR –have the potential to create stronger connections between people and machines.

Recent technological advances, coupled with a proliferation of affordable hardware and software, have made immersive technologies like AR, VR and MR more commercially feasible than ever.

Four years ago, the Ford team was viewing a customer’s perspective on a 46-inch TV using a pre-visualisation tool. Now, the team looks at engineering, design and ergonomics using VR.