NX Render Blog Series for the Marine Industry | Part Five: NX VR for Design Review

Introduction

We’re at the end of our NX Render talks series for the marine industry! And with that, we’re bringing you a topic we haven’t covered in our series’ before, and a new guest! This final entry will wrap up the series and bring your focus to NX VR and how utilizing this will benefit your design reviews. We will be joined this time by Software Development Management, Aziz Nassir who will be sharing how NX VR has not only improved his design reviews, but also essential collaboration within his team. So, shall we begin?

Optimizing your design review process

A lot of the time, when we talk about design reviews, we talk about time, speed, and ease. It’s what all designers want. Visualizing your design and your design changes as you go is crucial in any industry. NX VR allows you, and your team, to see any changes without putting it through production. So again, saving on costs and time. Obviously, physical prototypes are still a useful technique for designers, however this comes at a costly and timely price. Seeing your designs and models right before your eyes, with immediate change is vital in competing in the industry.

“Working with your model in 3D on your monitor is great. It gives you a great idea of what it’s going to look like at the end, but what it doesn’t give you an idea of, is physical space and how things might work together.”

Aziz Nassir, Siemens Digital Industries Software

How these benefit the marine industry

Like what we’ve covered above, big savings made on time and costs are huge. So let’s put that into the context of the marine industry. Does building a physical prototype of a large pleasure yacht sound like something that would be produced with pocket money? No, and that’s why taking advantage of NX VR and encouraging you to make this an essential part of your design workflow.

“Whether it’s a small speed boat or a pleasure yacht, it’s a very costly process. Both financially, and in terms of time as well. What NX VR actually has allowed you to do is visualize whether something’s going to work for you, before those designs get physically produced. And so, saving time, cost and materials. Especially when you’re able to make design changes quickly, and to scale.”

NX VR allows users to also experience tools like they would in the real world when reviewing designs. The option to measure, mark up and move parts around is key when working with large models. The concept of moving a part on a yacht that wouldn’t be humanely impossible in the real world is vital in saving time and money. An additional benefit here is also the collaboration within your team. NX VR enables collaboration from anywhere in the world and allows ideas to be shared while physically showing examples; another essential with hybrid working environments.

Giving you a sustainable edge

As we’ve touched on above, all companies, globally, need to be making a conscious effort for achieving their sustainability goals. Companies need to provide sustainable solutions as we drive toward an eco-friendlier future. At Siemens, we know that NX VR is enabling companies to use less materials and therefore less waste in creating and manufacturing their designs. Like Aziz says, if you’re able to create, change and view your model in VR then this means companies (generally) can save on building physical prototypes.

Productivity and Collaboration

We’ve talked a lot about saving time already, but another similar benefit that NX VR provides is the saving on going back and forth. While you’re able to hold collaborative sessions for different team members, stakeholders and designers all over the world, you’re saving on awaiting feedback. Sending out your design and ideas to all the necessary people takes time and effort. NX VR enables you to have all these people in one design review at the same time. And not only this, but you’re also saving on travel costs – back to the sustainability push!

Having all your key colleagues in one review ultimately speeds up the design workflow. The option to make changes in real time, while discussing the ‘why’s’ and the’ how’s’ is essential to working smart and efficiently. Let’s imagine you have one colleague using the NX measure tool, while another designer is virtually moving a large part of the model. Not only would the moving of the part require (likely) machinery effort in the real world, but also the quick and simple ‘jump in’ to review with team members makes NX VR a more dynamic and resourceful way of working!

“Remember, it’s as simple as clicking a button. From Siemens NX, putting your VR headset on, and then that’s that – you’re ready to go! There’s a handy help system as well, to get you started. NX VR allows you to get used to the tools and the shortcuts as you go.”

Summary

And that’s all! The NX Render for Marine is finished. We really hope you have enjoyed the whole series and found the tips and tricks to get you started in your design workflow useful and easy to follow. Thank you so much for following, and we can’t wait to have you back for the next industry!

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