VISUALIZATION

VRCO and its affiliate Fakespace Systems, together the world’s leading providers of real-time immersive visualization systems and software, today announced the availability of Conduit software for AliasStudio 13, formerly known as Alias StudioTools. As a member of the Autodesk Conductor Program, VRCO integrated Conduit as a plug-in to AliasStudio, thereby allowing designers to view and interact with native, three dimensional (3D) AliasStudio models in large-scale, interactive stereoscopic environments such as the Fakespace Power Wall, walk-in immersive rooms or high-resolution tiled displays driven by Windows PC clusters. The advanced visualization capabilities of Conduit enable creative designers to move beyond desktop tools to better manage the tight deadlines and development demands caused by rapidly changing consumer trends. Viewing photorealistic virtual prototypes in one-to-one or larger scale, with the added insight of stereoscopic depth, can reduce the number of physical models required for design reviews and thereby save time, money and shorten development cycles. Realistic virtual prototypes also improve collaboration among design teams for better decision making. For sales and marketing applications, immersive viewing enhances customer research, creates more powerful presentations and engages potential customers for better understanding of design alternatives. As a graphics distribution middleware, Conduit duplicates the flow of 3D commands to multiple PC graphics channels and pipelines, creating stereoscopic image formats and accommodating for the multiple graphics outputs needed by advanced, large-scale immersive and interactive displays. For more natural interaction with computer generated models, Conduit gives AliasStudio users the advantages of more advanced VR features such as motion tracking that provides realistic perspectives as the viewer moves around a model. Conduit also enables intuitive navigation and manipulation of models with wireless virtual wands and gloves. The ability to work with native AliasStudio data in immersive environments has additional productivity benefits. Previously, in order to view 3D models in VR environments, engineers would have to convert their data to a third party viewing application, which typically required a software specialist and a significant amount of time. Furthermore, the conversion process often resulted in data integrity loss or compromises in image quality. The use of the Conduit plug-in eliminates the need for data conversion thereby saving time and ensuring the best quality data to support decision making. “Companies who see design as imperative for competitive advantage will now have more tools available to facilitate faster, better decisions,” said John Gibson, Director of Engineering Products, Autodesk. “With AliasStudio and Conduit, designers can now move seamlessly from the desktop to advanced, large-scale immersive and interactive displays for enhanced insight into their designs.” “We are pleased to be part of the Autodesk Conductor Program and to have the opportunity to expand the features of AliasStudio,” said Julien Berta, VRCO’s Product Manager for Conduit. “AliasStudio already promotes creativity and productivity. Conduit will literally bring another dimension of capabilities to the design and decision workflow.” Available today from VRCO, Conduit for AliasStudio can be integrated into existing software and/or visualization environments. VRCO and Fakespace can also design and provide complete, turnkey visualization solutions to meet specific customer requirements.