Using Augmented Reality to Bring Your Products to Life

Both Virtual and Augmented Reality are finding their footing in Industry 4.0, with many manufacturers and businesses implementing the technology in their process chain for training, assisting in planning and development, and collaborating across geographies. There’s one industry segment that seems to be adopting AR technology at a much more rapid pace than the rest: product design and development.

So why is Augmented Reality becoming so prevalent in product design, and what are the benefits? AR enables you to bring your product to life in the real world, at full scale and without the need to create a physical prototype. It allows you to visualize your product in the context of its intended purpose – in the physical space it’s meant for, with observance and understanding of the activity surrounding it. Whether your stakeholders are near or far, AR enables you to connect throughout the development process, iterating at a more rapid pace and ultimately ending up with an improved design.

CAD MicroSolutions has developed an Augmented Reality app for IOS that allows you to take your SOLIDWORKS CAD model directly into a customized AR experience, to leverage your digital assets for product demonstrations, prototyping and product configuration or marketing purposes. The app allows you to scan any surface – now your Augmented Reality landscape – and place a 3D model onto the surface for viewing. 

In the example above, we leveraged a real SOLIDWORKS CAD model of a Nespresso machine that is currently available for purchase. On the right, you can see the coffee maker on display in a store. On the left, the AR version of the same model sits on a desk in the CAD Micro office.