Virtual Reality Applications in Transportation Design Education

Vehicle design requires the development of virtual and physical tridimensional models to translate concepts generated by freehand drawing and renderings. This iterative process is very valuable but highly resource-consuming in time, cost, and effort-not only in the modeling process itself, but also in learning time, prototyping, and finishing. With schools tied to the duration of academic terms and student budgets, projects are limited to only CAD and/or scale physical models. However, recently available virtual reality (VR) devices offer alternatives to bridge that gap, enabling full-size 3D drawing exploration and visualization of CAD in small and full scale. This session will discuss the use of VR software and Maya software for initial exploration, as well as VRED software for visualization of vehicle concepts using the HTC Vibe. It describes where in the design process these tools are used, as well as the setup used at the Transportation Design Program at the University of Cincinnati.