Building Bridges: Development of a Redlining Interface Between VR and PDM

Virtual Reality (VR) has been used mainly as a complementary tool in the product development process for the depiction and evaluation of visual product features. Typical use cases are design review or assembly assessment. VR systems are usually used separately as stand-alone systems. Geometry data must be manually converted into viewable formats. If changes are necessary, the results are usually fed back to product developers in text-based reports or via screenshots with mark-ups. The objective of this approach is to achieve a continuous integration of these VR reviews into the product data management (PDM), which represents the core of the product development process. For this purpose, a VR redlining tool with a bidirectional connection to a PDM system was developed. This tool is able to automatically convert and show geometry data from the PDM database. In addition, properties such as part name, status or weight of the assembly components can be shown in VR based on connected PDM attributes. Redlinings created in VR, consisting of mark-up elements and voice-activated text fields, can then be transferred to the PDM system and processed in the internal viewer. Two methods have been developed for this purpose. One utilizes a 2D plane to position the redlining elements. The other allows them to be positioned freely including a camera to set the perspective. The research shows that an increased digitalization in the review process for product developers can be achieved between VR and PDM. However, further empirical studies comparing the different working methods are necessary.