Our thirst for Visualisation drives the development of Engineering software
Paul Empringham is VP Research for PI PLMx
Veterans of the NPD (New Product Development) industry have seen a dramatic change in tools and processes over the last four decades. Rooms full of draughtsman working on large drawing boards has given way to offices with moderately specified computers generating high-resolution 3D CAD Models, with no need for 2D drawings due to Model-Based techniques.
It was the Automotive and Aerospace companies pushing software developers to provide their engineers with DMU (Digital Mockup) capabilities, allowing a much greater visual understanding of shape, style and fit (interference & tolerances) which formed progress in the ’90s. As soon as DMU’s were available, projectors were developed to create live digital “cave” environments, allowing development teams and customers to review proposed designs, this was also a revolution for human factor and manufacturing engineering professions.
We should not underestimate the huge savings and progress companies have made during these advances in engineering software capability. Previously many physical prototypes of components and assemblies were manufactured then analysed and tested. This is why moderately complex products such as a family car could take up to five years to develop and launch. This development time has now been more than halved thanks to what has been a real revolution in our lifetime, the use of computer-based simulation and visualisation. A right-first-time approach, utilising modern visual computing techniques such as Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE), Multi-Domain Simulation (FEA, CFD), Electronic Design Automation (EDA), Computer Aided Design (CAD), DMU, Mixed Reality (AR/VR), has led to a faster collaborative development cycle with a far greater understanding of risk mitigation.
Recent increases in computing power have allowed CAD software vendors to respond to user requests by enabling live 3D VR environments, generated directly from the software at the 'click of a button'. This is a huge time saver, as previously a considerable amount of export, translation and surface prep work was required during the workflow to develop 3D VR environments. An equally important growth area for visualisation technologies is Augmented Reality (AR), companies have woken up to the value of visually overlaying models with relevant information or interactions whilst seeing an in-situ real-life environment. The use-cases for workforce training via AR are immediately obvious and this is backed up by the investment and focus currently from Engineering Software suppliers.
As engineers, our thirst for greater visualisation platforms continues, to see more detail or to understand the context, it continues to drive all aspects of the Engineering software industry forward. After all, a BOM in a PLM system with an easy to navigate lightweight 3D model and assembly is infinitely better to understand than a plain line item Excel style BOM.
So where does the industry go from here? I believe we will see greater improvements in how engineering systems such as CAD, Multi-domain simulation, PLM, MES, etc, deliver and utilise AR and VR technologies, increasing the engineer's interaction with the part and its environment. The resolution of devices will improve drastically, as will the quality and realism of large scene rendering, much of this technology is driven currently by the film and gaming industries. With the huge progress in laser-scanning and point cloud processing for the AEC market, I can see this transferring over to Engineering software, to provide a much more accurate visual environment for engineers, this will be especially true for AR and Digital Twin applications. Finally, a little further out, I can see the introduction of holographic interaction for immediate visual feedback, without the need for headsets or enclosed cases. Hopefully, this could also involve some clever haptic feedback method for manipulating and interacting with the hologram representation. I guess as they always say, watch this space!
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I think real-time game Engines are the only way the industry can proceed. If you look at how the automotive industry is integrating them into their workflows it clear that interactivity and real time Simulations are a key component of any digital twin strategy and that game engines or real time engines are leading the way in terms of providing an overarching layer to add more fidelity to the static CAD models that underpin today’s digital twins. Game engines today are far more than a visualization layer , they offer complete ecosystems of value on top Of the interactive real time simulated world.