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VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

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SPECIAL REPORT: VR FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Virtual Reality (VR) allows design, engineering and manufacturing firms to create human scale virtual prototypes of products long before they are made.

Products can be viewed, reviewed and tested in the virtual world. Firms can make quicker evaluations based on shorter design cycles and have complete confidence in their decisions. Early validation encourages designers to explore bold new ideas, opening up opportunities for innovation. The production of costly, time consuming physical prototypes can be reduced or even eliminated.

VR has been around for many years but, recently, the technologies that allow designers, engineers, clients and customers to experience products in VR have changed dramatically.

Projection-based systems (CAVES) used to be the only way to consume VR but, due to the high costs, they were only within the reach of large manufacturing enterprises.

Now, VR is being driven by exciting new developments born from the consumer games sector. These include affordable Head Mounted Displays (HMDs), such as the HTC Vive™, and sophisticated ‘game engine’ VR

software tools, like Unreal® Engine. Coupled with advanced workstations and powerful new generation Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), VR is now within the reach of design and manufacturing firms of all sizes, from SMEs to large multi-nationals.

VR helps designers, engineers, manufacturers, clients and customers experience a product as if it were literally in front of them. It delivers a sense of immersion and scale that simply cannot be matched when viewing a 3D model or rendering on a desktop display. Move your head up close to evaluate a headlight detail, shift your body to the side to assess the lines of a bonnet, reach into an engine to check for serviceability.

There are many different areas where VR can be used to support product development, from conceptual design all the way through to marketing and sales.

The automotive and aerospace industries have always been major beneficiaries of the technology, but VR can also be applied to many other sectors within product development including heavy machinery, medical, white goods and consumer goods, where products can be experienced in the

context of how they will be used. Use cases include styling, design

development, design review, ergonomics, collaboration, sales / marketing, simulation and training.

VR can benefit both aesthetic and functional decision making. Early VR systems focused on geometry, but there is a growing trend for greater realism in VR. Some of the most advanced VR software tools use dynamic lighting, ambient occlusion and physically-based materials to deliver what is being described as hyper-realism — in real time. It’s all about delivering quality and fidelity at high frame rates to make the VR experience as believable as possible.

VR FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENTA new wave of technologies for virtual reality is promising to drive new levels of efficiency and innovation into product development, marketing and beyond

VR lends itself perfectly to ergonomic testing. Firms can evaluate how people interact with products using natural body, hand and head movements. This could be a reach and accessibility study for a car cockpit or operator visibility for an industrial machine. Physics-based systems can be used to simulate product assembly or disassembly operations for production and maintenance. Discovering problems early on can save money, reduce delays and help firms create better, more functional products.

USE CASE #1 PRODUCT STYLING

USE CASE #3 CONFIGURATORS

USE CASE #2 ERGONOMIC TESTING

It’s all about delivering quality and fidelity at high frame rates to make the VR experience as believable as possible

Static photorealistic renders and fixed path animations play an important role in aesthetic decision making, but VR can take things one step further. VR enables firms to view high fidelity models in real time from any angle or distance. Designs can be checked for gap and flush and the impact of tolerances on perceived quality. With dynamic lighting, physically-based materials and realistic reflections, materials and surface finish can be assessed. This could be leather, glass or even clearcoat lacquer that is applied on top of automotive paint.

Configurators bring designs to life by allowing clients and customers to interact with and customise highly detailed products in real time. They can be used to change components, demonstrate features, or explore material and paint options. Configurators are proving particularly popular in car showrooms and offer an engaging, fully interactive car buying experience. Customers become immersed in a virtual showroom to visualize their custom car at human scale in different environments before it is built.

SPECIAL REPORT VR FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

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VR FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Move up close to evaluate a headlight detail, shift your body to assess the lines of a bonnet, reach into an engine to check for serviceability

THE FUTURE OF VR IN DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING

We have only started to scratch the surface of what is possible with VR in product development. In the future, collaboration will play an increasingly important role, with geographically dispersed teams working together in the same virtual space. Sophisticated markup tools will automatically feed back information to the originating design software. VR-based geometry editing and creation tools will also grow in capability, so design teams won’t have to leave VR in order to explore new ideas. Avatars will help aid communication by allowing collaborators to express themselves through subtle body language.

The use of VR for training will also grow significantly. Engineers will be able to learn how to service a machine before it has even been manufactured. This can significantly reduce the need to travel and even deliver new efficiencies when travel is not an option — to remote locations, such as an oil rig, or example.

There will be huge opportunities for VR in marketing and sales, as design and manufacturing data is re-used in many different areas. As consumer VR headsets become more pervasive, firms will be able to offer customers high-fidelity, fully immersive VR experiences in the comfort of their own homes.

On the hardware front, the display resolution of VR headsets will increase, helping make VR experiences even more realistic. Graphics technology will advance significantly, not only in terms of raw performance, but in the way that VR scenes are rendered in real time.

User interaction with the virtual world will also change. VR controllers will be replaced by hand gestures or haptic devices that provide tactile feedback from virtual interactions, giving users the sensation of touching a solid object. Physics-based audio will also increase the sense of immersion.

VIRTUAL REALITY CHECKLIST

Professional ‘VR Ready’ Workstation (e.g. HP Z440) Professional Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) (e.g. Radeon Pro WX 7100)

Head Mounted Display (HMD) (e.g. HTC Vive)

Dedicated space for room-scale VR

Wall mounted brackets or telescopic stands for VR trackers

VR software (e.g. Unreal Engine)

Optimized workflow (CAD to VR)

Scene preparation / model optimization

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McLaren 570S rendered in Unreal Engine

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SPECIAL REPORT: VR FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

From the race track to the open road, McLaren takes Formula 1 technology and uses it to create some of the most advanced sports cars in the world. The McLaren

570S, for example, delivers breath-taking performance, taking drivers from 0-62MPH in a mere 3.2 secs.

But this luxury coupé isn’t the only thing that moves at speed at McLaren. The UK automaker has one of the most optimized development processes in the world and, with the help of VR, cars can now be brought to market even faster.

McLaren has used VR for some time, using a powerwall to visualize grayscale volume models at full size. To bring more visual fidelity to the process, the company turned to game engine technology and Unreal Engine. Cars can now be visualized at near photorealistic quality, using a powerwall or a fully immersive VR headset. Scenes are dynamically lit with physically-accurate materials, resulting in crisp reflections on body panels and glass.

“We want to be able to believe in what we see and then we can confidently make the right design decision,” says Mark Roberts, Design Operations Manager. “The high

fidelity, real time rendering ability of Unreal Engine is giving us that believability.”

“VR enables you to look at the execution of those detail areas without having to make separate desktop models,” adds Robert Melville, Chief Designer. “You can check the gap and flush, fillet sizes, radiuses. On the interior, it allows us to sit inside the environment, immerse ourselves in there, and with the tools we have we can actually

check reach zones, head clearances, by combining VR with some physical elements.”

McLaren is planning to take VR beyond design, adding even more value to existing CAD data. The manufacturing team can explore how to fit parts before they exist. Dealerships can learn how to service cars by undergoing training in VR. Customers can configure and visualize their dream McLaren inside the virtual world.

CASE STUDY: MCLAREN AUTOMOTIVEWith one of the swiftest automotive design processes in the world, McLaren Automotive is committed to going even faster with the help of VR

CASE STUDY: WHIRLPOOL - KITCHEN OF THE FUTURE

Home appliance manufacturer Whirlpool® is using VR to present the Interactive Kitchen of the

Future. The simulation places users at the centre of a futuristic kitchen experience, to see how families like theirs will interact with smart technologies.

For example, using a smart backsplash and smart countertop, the kitchen anticipates and adapts to the needs of users, personalizing recipes or providing breakfast ideas based on how much time a parent has available before the school run.

The experience was developed in Unreal Engine by UK VR studio Hammerhead VR. There was a big emphasis on realism, including texture quality and lighting.

McLaren 570S rendered in Unreal Engine

SPECIAL REPORT VR FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

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POWERING VR WORKSTATIONS It is essential to invest in the right workstation hardware when adopting VR for product development. Immersive VR has very different requirements to desktop 3D CAD so don’t expect to get up and running by simply plugging-in a VR headset to your existing machine.

Much of this centres on the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) which has the job of rendering 3D models frame by frame in real time.

For 3D CAD and design viz on a 2D display, most users are comfortable working at 25-30 Frames Per Second (FPS). At this refresh rate, models move smoothly and it is easy to position them quickly and accurately on screen.

For VR, the demands are much higher. The GPU must be able to render left and right eyes at 90 FPS. If frame rates drop below this number then the feeling of immersion can be broken, as the VR headset’s display cannot keep up with the user’s head movement. This can lead to disorientation and nausea. In short, you will simply not be able to use your workstation for VR.

To help users choose the right hardware, HP offers several ‘VR Ready’ workstations that are tuned for professional VR. These include the HP Z440 for CAD-centric VR workflows and the HP Z840 for CAD and design viz-centric VR workflows

Both workstations can be configured with the Radeon Pro WX 7100 (8GB), a powerful single slot ‘VR Ready’ GPU that is also optimized and certified for a wide range of professional 3D CAD and design viz applications. This helps designers and engineers move seamlessly between CAD, design viz and VR, safe in the knowledge they will be fully supported along the way.

HP Z440 workstationSingle CPU workstation ideal for mainstream CAD-centric VR workflows.

HP Z840 workstationDual CPU workstation ideal for high-end CAD and design viz-centric VR workflows.

Radeon Pro WX 7100High-performance ‘VR Ready’ professional Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) from AMD.

CASE STUDY WEST SURREY RACING

West Surrey Racing (WSR) knows a thing or two about fast cars. The UK firm takes a standard BMW® and

turns it into a racing machine to compete in the British Touring Car Championships (BTCC). In 2016 it won both the teams’ and constructors’ titles with a custom BMW 1 Series.

WSR uses Siemens NX™ CAD for its development work, using huge laser-scanned point cloud datasets as the basis for its designs, all powered by HP Z Workstations with Radeon Pro graphics.

The final CAD models are enormous, comprising eight major assemblies including the chassis, roll cage, cockpit layout, transmission, engine, bodywork, front suspension and rear suspension.

The complex CAD data lives on beyond design and manufacturing. To help promote its brand to sponsors, WSR worked with London-based creative studio Rewind to create an immersive VR experience.

Rewind brought the model into Unreal Engine, optimized the geometry for performance, then added materials and lighting for realism. In VR, sponsors can see how their brand would look on the car, by placing virtual decals, scaling them for size, then viewing from any angle. For added realism, doors can be opened and shut, lights switched on and off and wheels set to spin.

BMW was also impressed by the virtual experience. The two companies have since cemented their ten-year relationship with the launch of TEAM BMW in 2017, the first time in 21 years that the German automotive firm has competed as a manufacturer team.

WSR custom BMW 1 Series rendered in Unreal Engine

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With a high GHz CPU, optimized Radeon Pro GPU, an acoustically engineered chassis and impressive serviceability, the HP Z440 Workstation is an ideal choice for CAD and VR

POWERING VR - HP Z WORKSTATIONS

MEMORY (RAM)When creating professional VR experiences from CAD data, it is common to use several applications at the same time. These include CAD, design viz and game engine VR authoring tools, as well as email client, web browser and office applications.

Multi-application workflows such as these can put big demands on a workstation’s memory, particularly when working with large datasets or when processing high resolution VR lightmaps.

32GB is considered to be a good amount for entry-level CAD to VR workflows, with 64GB or more recommended for more demanding users.

With eight DIMM slots and a maximum capacity of 128GB the HP Z440 is able to support complex workflows now and well into the future.

ECC (Error Correcting Code) memory is recommended for the highest quality results and it is important that memory is properly configured. To get the best performance out of the HP Z440’s 4-channel memory architecture, install DIMMs in quads.

ACOUSTICSTo help ensure the HP Z440 is both quiet and reliable, fans are strategically placed

for optimum system cooling with advanced algorithms used to control fan speeds.

The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is arguably the most important component in a professional VR workstation. It delivers the graphics horsepower required to support fully immersive VR experiences when using VR headsets like the HTC Vive.

The Radeon Pro WX 7100 (8GB GDDR5) is a powerful professional ‘VR Ready’ GPU from AMD. The optimized Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture helps it maintain the all-important 90 Frames Per Second (FPS) which is needed for a smooth, flicker-free VR experience with a VR headset.

The Radeon Pro WX 7100 builds on the legacy of AMD FirePro, which has been a hallmark of professional graphics for many years. The card is tested, optimized and certified for CAD and other professional 3D applications. This makes it ideal for use in the automotive, aerospace and other manufacturing sectors, where multiple tools are used when creating VR content.

In addition to delivering fast interactive 3D graphics on the desktop and in VR, the powerful GPU can be used for to accelerate compute intensive operations that are traditionally carried out by the CPU. This includes physically-based rendering in Radeon ProRender, an open source, OpenCL renderer that is available for a number of applications, including Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS®, Autodesk® 3ds Max® and Autodesk® Maya.

Multiple GPUs can be used to cut render times. The HP Z440 can be configured with up to two Radeon Pro WX 7100 GPUs (the HP Z840 can be configured with up to three). Two GPUs can also deliver big performance benefits for VR. In VR applications that are multi-GPU aware, the load can be shared, with one GPU rendering the viewpoint for the left eye and the other GPU rendering the viewpoint for the right eye.

GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT (GPU)

SPECIAL REPORT VR FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

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STORAGE (SSDs AND HDDs)

PROCESSOR (CPU)The CPU is one of the most important components in an HP Z Workstation. For CAD and VR software, the two most significant specifications are clock speed (GHz) and the number of CPU cores.

Clock speed should be the number one priority for CAD and VR consumption. A high GHz CPU will not only make most operations within the software run faster but, in CPU-limited CAD applications, it will increase the 3D graphics performance as well. With this in mind an HP Z440 Workstation with a quad core Intel® Xeon® E5-1630 v4 (3.7GHz) or Intel® Xeon® E5-1620 v4 (3.5GHz) CPU is a great choice for mainstream CAD and VR .

VR authoring tools can also benefit from a CPU with more cores. Unreal Lightmass, the high-quality static global illumination solver in Unreal

Engine, for example, is highly multi-threaded, so more cores mean lighting can be built much quicker. In other professional VR applications having more cores can reduce the time it takes to import CAD data. In applications like 3ds Max it can also cut render times.

Upping the number of cores usually means a reduction in GHz so it is important to find a good balance here. For VR, it is inadvisable to drop below 3.20GHz when using Intel® Xeon® E5-1600 v4 Series CPUs, as this could lead to a poor VR experience.

An HP Z440 Workstation with an Intel® Xeon® E5-1680 v4 CPU (3.4GHz, 8 cores) is a good choice for CAD, VR creation or physically-based rendering. For high-end workflows that would benefit from even more CPU cores consider an HP Z840 workstation with dual eight core Intel® Xeon® E5-2667 v4 (3.20 GHz) CPUs.

A Solid State Drive (SSD) is recommended for optimal storage performance. Large CAD and VR datasets should load and save quicker and, as latency is low, the HP Z440 Workstation should feel more responsive. Random read / write access is also fast, which is particularly important when multi-tasking or swapping between applications.

SSDs traditionally come as 2.5-inch drives that use the SATA 3.0 interface. The HP Z440 has room for four of these drives. However, with four times the read performance of SATA 3.0 SSDs the HP Z Turbo Drive G2 SSD, a half height, half length PCIe card, should be of particular interest to those working with colossal datasets, typically used in point cloud processing, simulation or design visualization.

While SSDs offer superior performance to traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), their cost per GB is still relatively high. As a result, an SSD is commonly reserved for operating system, applications and active datasets, while a high capacity HDD is used to store lesser used files.

Integrated handles at the front and rear make it easy to move the workstation from the design office to the meeting

room for VR presentations or immersive design / review

INTEGRATED HANDLES

Four USB 3.0 ports at the front make it easy to plug-in VR headsets and peripherals. The top port is ‘always on’ which is great for charging VR controllers and other devices even

when the HP Z440 is powered down.Some VR setups require positional trackers to be plugged

into USB ports, but no more than two should be connected to a single USB host controller. If a third tracker is needed this can be connected via USB 2.0. There are two USB 2.0

ports and four more USB 3.0 ports at the rear of the machine

I/O PORTS

SERVICINGMany of the user-serviceable components, including hard drives, PCI/PCIe expansion slots, and external device bays, don’t need a screwdriver to remove and replace, making configuration and upgrades easy. All serviceable components clip in and out of position easily and are clearly marked with green touch points.

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HP Z240 (TOWER) Single CPU workstation offering performance

and reliability at starting prices that rival desktop PCs.

Entry-level to mainstream 3D CAD and entry-level VR.

HP Z440 Single CPU workstation with high levels of

performance and expandability in an accessible tool-free tower form factor.

Mainstream to high-end 3D CAD and mainstream design viz and VR.

HP Z840Dual CPU workstation with outstanding

performance in one of theindustry’s most expandable chassis.

High-end 3D CAD, design viz and VR.

Processor Intel® Xeon® E3-1270 v6(3.8GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo, 4 Core) 1 2

Intel® Xeon® E5-1680 v4 (3.4GHz, 4.0GHz Turbo, 8 Core) 1 2

2 x Intel® Xeon® E5-2667 v4 (3.2GHz, 3.6GHz Turbo, 8 core) 1 2

Memory 32GB DDR4-2400 ECC RAM 64GB DDR4-2400 ECC SDRAM 64GB or 128GB DDR4-2400 ECC SDRAM

GPU Radeon Pro WX 7100 (8GB) One or two Radeon Pro WX 7100 (8GB) depending on workflow

One, two or three Radeon Pro WX 7100 (8GB)depending on workflow

Storage HP Z Turbo Drive G2 256GB SSD + 2 TB SATA HDD (7200 rpm) 3

HP Z Turbo Drive G2 512GB SSD + 2 TB SATA HDD (7200 rpm) 3

HP Z Turbo Drive G2 1TB SSD + 4 TB SATA HDD (7200 rpm) 3

HP Z WORKSTATIONS FOR CAD & VRHP offers a range of workstations designed to give designers, engineers and content creators a fast, reliable platform for professional CAD, design viz and virtual reality workflows

WHAT IS A HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY (HMD)?A head-mounted display is a VR headset that you strap on your head for a fully immersive VR experience. The HTC Vive is one of the most popular HMDs, but there are others in development.

When wearing an HMD you experience an amazing sense of presence, scale and depth. Each eye is shown a slightly offset rendered view, fooling the brain into thinking you are inside a virtual 3D world.

The world can be explored from any angle, simply by moving your head. The HMD is continually tracked with VR sensors and the view of the virtual world adjusts instantly.

There are two types of VR

experiences: seated / standing and room scale. In product development, particularly when developing large products such as cars or industrial machinery, a room scale experience is favoured. It allows you to walk around the virtual object, examine details up close, or even stick your head inside the machine.

Many product development and manufacturing firms favour permanent VR rooms where tracking sensors are mounted on walls or stands. Standard setups are limited to around 5m x 5m. To move larger distances, or to change position instantly, simply teleport — point and click with a VR hand controller.

Controllers can also be used to access a variety of tools inside VR. This includes sectioning, measurement, markup, turning objects on and off, exploring different configurations or colorways, or changing the visual quality of

the rendered image. Tools for creating and

editing scenes in VR are also on the rise. Unreal Engine, for example, offers access to a complete set of VR editing tools, through a user interface that is fully optimized for VR.

HTC Vive Business Edition with trackers and controllers

SPECIAL REPORT VR FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

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Unreal Engine might conjure up images of first person shooters and role playing adventures, but the game-focused creation engine is now expanding into many

different professional markets, including product development and manufacturing.

Unreal Engine enables automotive, aerospace, engineering and manufacturing firms to develop live interactive, immersive and collaborative experiences that can be consumed on workstation, console and mobile platforms – including Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR).

BMW, for example, is using Unreal for design review. Engineers and designers sit in a physical car model, complete with doors, seats, a steering wheel and a dashboard, then experience virtual designs to evaluate features such as rooflines, hood profiles and instrumentation configurations. Everything is tracked in real time in VR, all through Unreal.

Nasa is using the engine to create a mixed reality International Space Station simulator to train astronauts – on their own, or collaboratively from different locations around the world.

Other leading firms that are harnessing the

power of Unreal Engine include Burrows, McLaren Automotive, HOK, Foster + Partners, IKEA® and Transport for London.

With an easy-to-use and accessible toolkit, capable of creating some of the most advanced 3D games, Unreal offers endless possibilities for product development. It can be used to create compelling VR experiences for anything from design / review, physics-based ergonomic testing and training to marketing, sales and beyond.

The engine is tuned to deliver exceptionally high quality visuals in real time, using advanced technologies including physically-based materials, ambient occlusion and global illumination, which simulates the real-world behavior of light. The output is so realistic that Lucasfilm even used Unreal to create three shots in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story™, straight from the engine – final pixels, right to the screen.

Unreal Engine thrives on high-performance professional GPUs like the Radeon Pro WX 7100, but also features powerful tools to help users optimize scenes to get the very best out of finite resources.

The software is freely available and is used

by a huge number of developers, globally. Epic Games, who owns the engine, also uses it to develop games and experiences. By continually proving out the technology on its own projects, and encouraging feedback from its community, Epic can dramatically optimize workflows and push technology boundaries.

For example, it recently added a VR editing mode directly inside the engine. Now users can access the entire Unreal Engine editor through a special optimized interface and don’t have to leave VR in order to make changes.

To help non-games development teams get the most out of the engine, Epic has created a dedicated Unreal Engine Enterprise division. In addition to offering bespoke consultancy, the Enterprise team is working hard to develop frictionless workflows to bring CAD data from many leading applications into Unreal.

Over the page we look at some of the ways the team is simplifying the process of working with complex engineering data, materials and lighting, without sacrificing the quality of features or tools within Unreal Engine.

EXPERIENCE DESIGNS WITH UNREALUnreal Engine may have started life as a game engine, but with high quality visuals, powerful customization and optimized CAD to VR workflows it is now being embraced in product development

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UNREAL ENGINE - CAD TO VR WORKFLOWBelow are some of the key things to consider when planning to take CAD and engineering data into a virtual reality environment.

Begin with the end in mindThe first place to start is to think about the end result. Creating a virtual reality experience that performs well requires some work. It may be easy to get 80% of the data into the engine and get very close to what you’re trying to achieve, but the last 20% is where most of the work will occur.

Prepare data wiselyIt’s important to think about exactly what you want to have in the VR experience and not to include anything that is unnecessary. Efficient VR production is all about compromise and choice.

Performance gains in some areas will have consequences in other areas.

Making wise choices with your CAD data from the outset will help streamline workflow further down the line. The last place you want to be is making optimizations in the engine, only to realise that you really need to go back upstream and fix the data.

The other part of the data preparation calculus is scene organization, not just polygon counts.

Don’t have everything as one object and consider organizing layers by object size instead of object type. Alternatively, group or layer objects based on where they are within the overall scene. Try to keep things together, but not necessarily attached so that you can hide and unhide objects later.

Materials & lighting are heavy liftingMaterials and lighting are important considerations in your VR experiences

and depend entirely on the type of CAD objects you’re bringing into the engine.

Good lighting and materials can take you a great deal further than just pure geometry. But you will need to have a good understanding in the difference between static and dynamic lights, baking shadows, reflection probes and post-process volume effects.

Additionally, the Unreal Engine makes use of physically based rendering (PBR) materials that look correct in any lighting condition. It’s important to have a good understanding of the different elements of the PBR material workflow like albedo maps, normal maps, roughness maps, ambient occlusion maps and more.

Use the VR template to get startedOnce you’re ready to start moving into VR, you can use the VR template provided with Unreal Engine. There are templates for the HTC Vive and other popular VR

headsets. Simple interactions are already set up and all you have to do is swap up the geometry in the level, press play and experience your scene in VR.

Complex object interactions may require more scripting and blueprint work, but it’s all possible.

Finally, before you complete your VR deliverable, you want to make sure that what you’re seeing is completely optimized. Your goal should be at least 90 frames per second. Anything less than that and you run the risk of making your viewer motion sick. You want to avoid latency at all costs.

The Unreal Engine documentation provides a great resource of VR best practices that you should familiarise yourself with. Be sure to check them out here.

tinyurl.com/Unreal-VR-best

There are many different paths artists, designers and engineers can take when bringing design data into Unreal Engine.

Whether a CAD model is coming from SOLIDWORKS, Creo®, NX, Inventor® or CATIA, the approach is dependent on the workflow or process you want to support. You might wish to visualize the latest styling design or optimize the data for a marketing deliverable on a mobile platform.

Digital Content Creation (DCC) tools like 3ds Max and Maya support a different approach where content from multiple sources is typically imported, aggregated and optimized in those DCC applications then exported to the Unreal Engine for authoring a final experience.

Regardless of the source of data, those adopting real-time processes share a common challenge; moving their data into Unreal’s real-time authoring environment requires an understanding of how to best organise and optimize the data to get

the best results. The workflow is very different to when working with rendered images. This creates the need for a flexible pipeline as data moves downstream towards the end result.

Epic Games’ Datasmith addresses many of these challenges while supporting non-destructive workflows.

Datasmith is focused on the four main stages of data workflow: aggregation, preparation, optimization and automation.

Aggregation assembles data from diverse

sources into a single “sandbox” where you can work with all the data in one place.

Preparation provides tools to fix holes, weld seams, flip normals, eliminate overlaps, or all the tasks involved in cleaning up a data set.

Optimization is the stage where you can group thousands of like objects, simplify heavy meshes or re-tessellate complex surfaces to better fit the requirements of your workflow.

Automation provides a mechanism to redo all of the above tasks in order to have a non-destructive workflow. It’s a general principle that upstream design or creative data will always be changing and downstream tools and workflows need to anticipate such changes allow refresh of source data without all the manual reworking.

In summary, Datasmith’s pipeline tools are a crucial component to a modern data workflow when creating or offering real-time content in the Unreal Engine.

DATA PIPELINE: FROM CAD TO UNREALTo help optimize the workflow between CAD / DCC applications and Unreal Engine, Epic Games has introduced ‘Datasmith’, a brand new suite of pipeline tools

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DATA PIPELINE: FROM CAD TO UNREAL UNREAL RECIPES AND BEST PRACTICETo get started quickly with Unreal Engine, look no further than the built-in templates / recipes. Applying best practices for performance, geometry and textures will also make your job easier

UNREAL ENGINE RECIPES: INTERACTIVITY

The way in which a viewer interacts with an Unreal Engine project is dictated by the type of experience you want your viewer to have.

The engine comes with more than a dozen pre-built templates, based on a number of common interactive scenarios, that allow you to start creating your experiences right away.

Even though some of these interactive scenarios are based on video games, many of them also apply to design visualization and manufacturing and can be

used with some simple modifications.The ‘first person’ template gives you the ability

to quickly engage the viewer through a self-paced experience within the 3D environment that you have created. There are also templates for flying and for driving vehicles.

Finally, there’s a virtual reality template that allows you to create an environment that’s ready to be used with headsets from either of the leading VR headset manufacturers.

BEST PRACTICES: TEXTURES

A large portion of the material pipeline in theUnreal Engine is PBR-based. PBR stands for physically-based rendering and is a method of surfacing geometry with a shader that allows the material to look correct in any given lighting condition.

Converting standard materials into PBR materials is not as straightforward as it would seem. PBR shaders frequently require special maps to be put into specific channels to achieve the desired effects.

There are two different types of PBR renderers. The Unreal Engine uses the “metalness” method for dealing with reflections and shininess.

BEST PRACTICES: PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION

Performance is all about managing losses. If you want 100% performance you’re going to have to give up some visual quality, and if you want outstanding quality you’re going

to have to give up some technical performance. At some point you will need to identify a target frame rate that strikes a balance between appropriate quality and desirable performance.

First, start with a desirable frame rate. If you’re creating a VR experience, your frame rate is pretty much set at 90 frames per second, in order to avoid motion sickness. If you need to have something in your environment that is very costly in terms of performance, you want to be certain that it is worth that cost. Make sure the textures are great, the geometry is spot on and the lighting is perfectly baked. In other words put your money on the screen where your viewer is going to look. Importantly, you should not expect perfection.

In summary, there is always a compromise. You will have to lose one thing to gain another.

BEST PRACTICES: GEOMETRY DECIMATION

Managing geometry is a key aspect of engine performance. In the world of video games, geometry is often purpose-built and highly detailed and is based only on what is required for the game.

In engineering and manufacturing, thousands of parts are potentially imported into the engine without any consideration given to the surface topology or the quality of the polygons being displayed. For this reason it is important to make wise decisions as far upstream as possible about what it is that you really want to have in the engine.

Low polygon objects are certainly important, but it may be equally important to ensure that you don’t include all the tiny polygon objects that will never be seen. Time may be better spent organizing the scene geometry than attempting to reduce polygons.

Don’t export what you won’t see. Make sure all of the geometry is clean, at least concerning the removal of isolated vertices and duplicate faces. Finally, many CAD packages will automatically generate double-sided faces. This should be avoided and is something that can be easily done without a lot of work. Once you have a well-organized clean scene you can then decide what objects should be decimated and optimized.

UNREAL ENGINE RECIPES: CONFIGURATORS

Configurators are a very popular way of creating user experiences.

Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to define all the possible permutations that may be needed for a configurator and then to turn them into predefined templates. That being said, index tables are a key component to a configurator because they allow you to set up and record all of the different permutations of the geometry and instances of materials and objects states that could be possible within the scene. These are then called through a system of blueprints that are triggered when a user makes an interaction through the interface.

One of the best ways to learn more about configurators is through the “The making of the McLaren Car Configurator” on YouTube. This provides an in-depth look at how to create a powerful configurator in Unreal Engine. (see - tinyurl.com/unreal-config)

12 hp.com/go/engineering | pro.radeon.com/wx

SPECIAL REPORT: VR FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Screen images courtesy of AMD, McLaren, Epic Games, Palatov, BMW, West Surrey Racing.

© Copyright 2017 HP Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Intel, Xeon, and Core are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. HTC and Vive are registered trademarks of HTC Corporation.AMD, Radeon Pro, Radeon ProRender and FirePro are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.SOLIDWORKS and CATIA are registered trademarks of Dassault Systemes in the USA and other countries. NX is a trademark of Siemens PLM Software in the USA and other countries. Creo is a trademark of PTC in the USA and other countries. Autodesk and Autodesk 3ds Max are trademarks of Autodesk in the USA and other countries. IKEA is a registered trademark of Inter IKEA Systems B.V. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. LLCUnreal and Unreal Engine are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. Whirlpool is a registered trademark of Whirlpool, U.S.A. BMW is a registered trademark of Bavarian Motor Works AG.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

1. Multi-Core is designed to improve performance of certain software products. Not all customers or software applications will necessarily benefit from use of this technology. 64-bit computing system required. Performance willvary depending on your hardware and software configurations. Intel’s numbering is not a measurement of higher performance.

2. Intel Turbo Boost performance varies depending on hardware, software and overall system configuration. See http://www.intel.com/technology/turboboost for more information.

3. For hard drives and solid state drives, 1 GB = 1 billion bytes. TB = 1 trillion bytes. Actual formatted capacity is less. Up to 30 GB of system disk is reserved for system recovery software.

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LEARN MORE - UNREAL ENGINE FOR PRODUCT DESIGNOver the next few months Epic will be hosting four Unreal Engine webinars for product design, in cooperation with HP and AMD.

Registrants will be taken through some common workflows relating to CAD data, to show what’s possible with Unreal Engine. There will also be a sneak peek of Project Nile, which includes research being undertaken by Epic to simplify workflows. Register at https://goo.gl/ttTt3H

The first webinar takes place on August 17, 2017

RADEON PRORENDER - A BRIDGE BETWEEN CAD, RENDERING & VRRadeon ProRender is a physically-based, GPU-optimized rendering engine from AMD. It enables designers to create photorealistic stills and animations directly from within popular 3D CAD applications like SOLIDWORKS and digital content creation tools like Autodesk 3ds Max.

AMD has now extended the reach of Radeon ProRender, developing a simplified, high-quality “CAD to VR” workflow that enables designers to experience 3D designs in a fully immersive, interactive environment.

The Radeon ProRender Game Engine Importer acts as a bridge between CAD and Unreal Engine VR, importing geometry and materials in just a few mouse clicks.

Visual characteristics (textures, normal maps, bump maps, reflectivity, refractivity, specular properties, etc.) of the ProRender physically-based materials are automatically

mapped to shaders in Unreal Engine at the correct scale. This means that a ProRender asset looks as close as possible to a high quality ray-traced rendering as soon as it is

brought into Unreal Engine. Once inside, it can be programmed like

any other native Unreal asset to support interactivity, collision detection, etc.

(left to right) Palatov car in SOLIDWORKS, Radeon ProRender and Unreal Engine