·         The virtual design space allows Ford designers to review a virtual vehicle in a familiar space before committing to the creation of a physical model

·         To help acclimatise teams to blending the virtual and physical worlds a virtual pit was developed which led to a design breakthrough

·         Using mixed reality allows design to conduct high-resolution, face-to-face virtual design reviews with colleagues around the world in real time

MELBOURNE, Australia, February 18, 2024 – Mixed reality – the blending of the real and virtual worlds – is a powerful visualisation and collaborative tool for the design team behind the Ford Ranger, Ranger Raptor and Everest at Ford Australia.

It’s so powerful, natural, and immersive that for designers, the lines between what’s real and what’s not can, at times, become a little blurred.

“It’s at the stage where you’re walking around the vehicle wearing the headset and, when you remove the goggles, it takes a moment to readjust to the fact the vehicle is no longer there,” said Andrew Dallan-Jones, visualisation manager, Ford Design in Australia.

The technology improves collaboration too, with more teams involved in a three-dimensional digital world, earlier in the design process. “We now have the capability to review the virtual vehicle in our familiar studio environment before committing to making a physical prototype, which helps speed up the design process and reduce changes,” said Dallan-Jones.

During the mixed reality development process, Ford Design in Australia generated a virtual pit and invited colleagues to test out the headsets. The response to the pit, demonstrated how realistic the tool had become.

“As a way of demonstrating the natural and intuitive three-dimensional experience using our mixed reality headsets, we generated a virtual pit that would appear in the floor when you put the headset on,” said Cory Middling, visualisation technology specialist, Ford Design in Australia.

“The reactions were amazing, but it was watching people walk carefully up to the edge of the hole and try and look down into it that it gave us an idea,” said Middling.

“We decided to include a vehicle in the pit that could be raised and lowered on a platform to get different perspectives on the model.

“It was originally done to show the possibilities with mixed reality but we soon realised being able to raise and lower a vehicle into the floor had huge benefits for our designers as they can now stand around the virtual pit and quite naturally look down into it to get a top-down view of the vehicle,” said Middling. Which is usually achieved by viewing physical models from a mezzanine level.

Using virtual and now mixed Reality has been a game-changer, according to China-based Max Wolff, design director, Ford China and IMG who said he’s now able to conduct high-resolution, face-to-face virtual design reviews with his colleagues in Melbourne, the US and Europe at the same time.

“Being able to collaborate from anywhere in the world in real-time along with the many other advantages of mixed reality is definitely a game changer.

Mixed reality is used throughout the entire design process, said Middling. “In the beginning, we use it to explore volume, themes and surface development.”

Once the vehicle theme has been chosen, mixed reality is used to scrutinise the design inside and out as we go back and forth between digital and physical prototypes.

“Using mixed reality has allowed us to work more efficiently, explore more themes more often in depth and shorten some parts of the design process from months to weeks. It’s all about having trust in the technology,” Middling concluded.

# # #