Useful Acronyms
Lets start by defining some terminology.
XR – Extended Reality
The catchall term for a human-computer interface that modifies the real world. The following acronyms ‘VR’ and ‘AR’ both come under the umbrella of XR.
VR – Virtual Reality
A VR device replaces your real environment with a fully digital one by replacing your entire field of vision with digital displays.
AR – Augmented Reality
With AR, visual elements are added to the real world around you using a camera feed. You can see digital content overlayed and interacting with the environment you are in, such as using a smartphone camera to see a dragon flying around your kitchen on the device’s screen.
For this article, we shall be focusing on the benefits of using Virtual Reality to enhance your Design Reviews across three different applications:
eDrawings Professional
eDrawings Professional is available with any SOLIDWORKS Professional or SOLIDWORKS Premium license with an active subscription.
What Headsets are supported on eDrawings Professional?
eDrawings Professional supports the HTC Vive range of VR Headsets. The eDrawings Help page Headset Requirements for VR – 2025 can be checked for the latest compatibility updates.
With eDrawings Professional we refer to the process as ‘direct VR’ as there is no special export or file type necessary; simply head to File > Open in VR.
From here you can select any SOLIDWORKS file or dedicated eDrawings file for viewing.
It’s worth noting that eDrawings VR builds on the Steam and SteamVR API.
With Steam being a games engine, you may need to check with IT when downloading the software to clarify its purpose.
Once you open your SOLIDWORKS designs in eDrawings VR mode you will see your 3D model – in our example we have some telescopes and terrain – and then the virtual environment around it.
eDrawings VR Features
Let’s take a look at what we can do in Virtual Reality with eDrawings Professional. The VR mode alone brings immersion and scale to your designs.
Spatial Awareness
In the example below we’ll take a look at a large telescope model, where navigating in VR gives us an appreciation for the layout of the building and its contents at a 1:1 scale.
This allows the user to double check access, manoeuvrability and safety precautions that will be too late to change once the concrete is laid and the steels fitted.
If you have the CAD files to hand, you could also bring in the construction equipment and check access for large vehicles, tooling and maintenance gear.
Component Handling
eDrawings allows you grab components using the trigger button on the controller. This will scale the model to something more palm-friendly and pin it to the controller, allowing you inspect it up close.
When a component has been picked up, the buttons on the controller populate with object-manipulation tools, such as rotating and scaling.
Items that have been picked up can be restored to their original position or placed to the side for further review.
Exploded Views
VR mode within eDrawings Professional also has a dedicated tool for exploding the model out to view all the components. With a single button press (on the left controller), the whole model can be exploded.
Do note that this does not load geometry positions from an existing SOLIDWORKS exploded view, but automatically positions the components based their bounding boxes. Just like in the collapsed state, items can be grabbed for close-up inspection.
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Register Here Immersive Collaborative Experience (ICE)
The Immersive Collaborative Experience tool is an inbuilt VR player on the 3DExperience Platform, building on the 3DPlay app. This can be utilised within the web browser or via the dedicated Windows app.
Like eDrawings Professional, the ICE on the 3DExperience Platform is classed as ‘direct VR’, with no file translations or pipeline needed. It also utilises the same Steam and Steam VR API as eDrawings and has the same headset compatibility list; the HTC Vive range.
Licensing
Typically, when it comes to the 3DExperience Platform, licensing is ‘named user’ based, where roles and apps are assigned and licensed to individuals.
This is not the case when it comes to ICE however, which instead uses a token system. When needed, users can activate the VR tool and if the token is available, it will be assigned to that user until they exit VR use.
Opening files in VR
ICE can be launched by selecting a model in the Collaborative Space and choosing Open With > More Apps, launching the App list on the left hand side. We’re looking for the 3DPlay desktop app (there are three to choose from, so select carefully).
This launches the native 3DPlay app, showing the model in a standard 3D viewer. Choosing ‘Immersion’ from the Scenario Chooser activates the VR view mode.
ICE VR Features
Render Mode
Different render modes are available in ICE, such as full wireframe, sub-division, and a shaded mode.
Navigation
- Fly – Use the controls to move up/down, left/right.
- Walk – Same as Fly but keeping to ground level.
- Teleport – Point and select a location to zip to, great for larger models and buildings.
- Air Grab – Use the controllers to pull or grab at the air to move yourself around. Both controllers can be used together to pull/push the model, changing the scale. Think of it as ‘pinch to zoom’ on a touchscreen, but in 3D space.
Explore
Explore mode allows us to hide/show files, allowing us to dive into the internals of the model. Transparency is also an option, if you wish to retain some visibility of the component when looking inside. Cutting planes – known as ‘Section Views’ in SOLIDWORKS – are available too.
Similar to eDrawings Professional, ICE also gives us the ability to explode the model, this time with precise dynamic control over the explosion distance. The explosion defaults from the centroid location to the bounding box.
Explore mode also has a measuring tool, allowing us to drop points around the model like a virtual, infinite measuring tape.
Markup
Markups in ICE allow us to add reporting annotations onto the model in VR. The controllers can be used to draw in 3D around the model; a great visual method to highlight, label and annotate with precision.
Any annotations added in the VR Immersion mode are saved to the document and are visible in the standard 3DPlay viewer, no VR Headset required to view.
Human Incarnation
As with ICE, Human Incarnation is a tool on the 3DExperience Platform. With Human Incarnation you can interact with your designs via VR in a human form, using an avatar.
This is fantastic for reviewing ergonomics and scale of designs, especially when the Generative Humans feature can be used to create a human of any age/size. Higher quality imports can be used for those looking for more realistic avatars when doing any image capture.
Human Incarnation allows the user to capture video, great for capturing any human-design interface before the tangible, real product is manufactured.
Take the Next Steps
You can create stunning realistic renders of your products too with SOLIDWORKS Visualize.
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