It’s early days, but the new spatial computing headset is already making headway into engineering workflows.
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have been slowly seeping into engineering offices over the past decade. The technology is being used to interact with CAD models, to help assemble spacecraft and to host virtual design reviews.
But spatial computing, as the technology is often called, has yet to make the widespread impact that proponents believe it can.
Could a new consumer headset speed up progress? The Apple Vision Pro, which launched earlier this year, has spurred newfound interest in spatial computing and its potential as an enterprise tool. And with several engineering software developers already committed to the headset, it may win over more than a few engineers.
Apple Vision Pro for designers
The starting $3,499 price tag for the Apple Vision Pro, plus the cost of enterprise software for the headset, is a roadblock to putting the headset on the desk of every designer. But it gives engineering companies a new platform to explore the value of spatial computing.
Engineering software companies including PTC and Nvidia have embraced the Vision Pro within the first few months of release. PTC’s Onshape was one of the first engineering apps to launch on the Vision Pro, giving users the ability to directly connect to the Onshape database (removing any required intermediate file formats needed on previous headsets), pull up 3D models, change design materials, leave comments and more.
“We were excited to get an early look of the Apple Vision Pro,” Greg Brown, vice president of product management for Onshape at PTC, told Engineering.com. “We knew that because of the way that it was going to come out—the functionality, the ease of use and all of these things—the barriers that were previously there in doing this type of visualization would be addressed in a major way.”
Brown views the biggest current engineering uses for the Vision Pro as ideation, collaboration, and evaluation, and says these are the areas where the Onshape app has focused first. The current app allows multiple people to interact with a model in the same virtual space. The following video from PTC shows the app in action:
PTC has hinted at plans to bring 3D design tools to the Vision Pro as well, but right now their software is focused on display, rendering and commenting.
Hungarian CAD provider Shapr3D also offers its 3D design software on the Vision Pro, but the immersive version of the software aims to be much more versatile than mere viewing. The company is offering demos of their Vision Pro software which advertises the ability to design fully in the headset.
Other engineering software available for the Apple Vision Pro includes Nvidia Omniverse, which can stream data and applications on the headset; Vectary, an interactive product visualizer; Graphisoft’s BIMx presentation app; and JigSpace, a 3D presentation app.
Apple Vision Pro beyond design
Engineering work extends far beyond 3D models, and companies are testing out VR and AR software for use on the manufacturing floor, construction sites and beyond.
Resolve is a BIM application offering immersive tools for the design and construction industry with a focus on helping all stakeholders “walk” through buildings before they are built. Resolve developed a rendering engine that can take massive engineering models and load them wirelessly onto a headset with a computer or cloud streaming. The company has previously worked with other VR headsets and now has a demo available for the Apple Vision Pro that CEO Angel Say calls “the tip of the iceberg.”
“There’s still so many more features and a general platform that we want to continue building. But that’s going to take time, both from developers like ourselves to keep adding functionality to our app, but then also from the industry to embrace these applications that we’re building and apply it to the areas that make the most sense,” Say told Engineering.com.
Resolve had to reimagine their software for the Vision Pro, as it presents a new paradigm of user navigation in virtual reality.
“There are no controllers with Apple Vision Pro, and so it’s not like you can use a joystick to fly around. It’s all eye tracking and tracking input. So that has been one thing that we’ve had to rethink,” Say said.
Other companies have also developed their own custom Vision Pro software. Porsche’s race engineering team uses the headsets to track car data in real time alongside live video from their race cars. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is bringing Apple Vision Pros into the machine shop for training technicians.
However, the direct impact of the Vision Pro on engineering work will vary from user to user. Many engineers do not rely on Mac computers, presenting a hurdle to integrations, but Say has seen that shifting.
“You’ve got programs like Revit, Navisworks, all these things that are only run on Windows,” Say said. “But in the last decade, I would say the industry has also had a shift out in the field to using Apple devices.”
Should engineers buy an Apple Vision Pro?
Most engineers should wait on buying an expensive new Vision Pro. These headsets are only going to get cheaper, lighter, better, and have more engineering apps available. But if the cost is palatable and you’re eager to explore spatial computing workflows, you’ll likely be impressed with the Vision Pro.
“It’s one of those things that you can read about, you can watch videos, but nothing beats actually going out and getting a demo and really experiencing it for yourself,” Say said.
During a recent quarterly earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that more than half of Fortune 100 companies have purchased Apple Vision Pro headsets, showing that big businesses are seeing value in exploring the enterprise impacts of this technology.
“Real customers and real prospects have been excited to be able to get their hands on these early. They have seen benefits early and a number of them have gone out and bought them the very same day,” Brown said of his experience demoing Onshape on the Vision Pro. “That speaks volumes to me that it’s finally reached a point where it can be more than a curiosity.”
As prices come down and apps get more sophisticated, the Apple Vision Pro and other headsets that follow it could find a permanent home on every engineer’s desk.
“If people haven’t tried VR/AR in the last five years, it’s time to revisit it,” Say said. “I think it’s important to understand how much the technology has evolved and get into one of the more recent headsets.”