How XR technologies will reshape the design process

The way that we design is changing, and even more so, the way we interact with software to design is changing too.

Augmented reality and virtual reality tech (AR/VR), or XR when joined together, is revolutionizing the way that we look at our creative process. Specifically, XR interfaces give us an easier bridge to cross between creativity and actualization. A bridge that will work to expand its impact on creative design.

XR technologies are no longer just for realization and visualization, they can also be used in the entire stages of the design process. This is actualized through the use of highly accurate motion controllers and tracked stereoscopic displays in VR headsets.

This hardware, combined with cutting edge software, is turning the page on how designers function in the design process. You can now interact in XR in the conceptual design phase, meaning 3D sketches, natural modeling workflows, and what is inessential virtual traditional sculpting in VR.

Conceptually this all seems possible, but bringing it into reality would take some pretty impressive software and technology pioneering.

Enter Project Sugarhill.

Autodesk’s Project Sugarhill is a foray into conceptual design workflows in XR spaces. Sugarhill is designed around perfecting the user workflow when conceptual design is done completely in XR.

This means that the success of Project Sugarhill would ensure accurate translation of design intent in VR, with higher accuracy as well as efficiency in the design process. After all, while designing in 3D VR might sound cool, it isn’t useful if it poses a decrease in design accuracy and efficiency.

Project Sugarhill is focused on perfecting the designers’ XR experience as working on various design phases completely in VR becomes commonplace. While hardware makers will work on perfecting their systems and how the users’ function, Autodesk is working to perfect the software, to create a perfect VR design experience.

While this whole article may just sound like one big futurism, I can assure you it’s the groundwork of the next generation of XR design technologies.

Written by:
Trevor English
Marketing Manager

Trevor is an experienced marketing and content creation professional who has spent his entire career helping engineering technology companies reach their customers through digital media. He currently works for Autodesk on the Digital Acquisition Team where he’s responsible for social demand generation for the AutoCAD and Design and Manufacturing families. You can also see his written engineering marketing content on InterestingEngineering.com, Curiosity.com, and other sites across the web.