Accelerate design cycles. Lower development costs. Reduce waste.
No matter how hard you try to get the design right on the first try in your CAD software, isn’t there always something that you only notice as soon as the object jumps from your 2D screen to your 3D space?
This used to happen to me all the time. I thought I had thought of everything…only to have to head right back to the drawing board after seeing the prototype.
This still happens to me all the time, only now I can catch these mistakes in a few seconds and fix them without wasting any time or money on making a physical prototype. With augmented reality (AR), I’ve been able to find completely new meaning in the phrase “rapid prototyping”.
Many people use 3D-printing to create these “looks like” prototypes. There is certainly something to be said for holding it in your hands. Then what? The trash? At least there are a few cool companies like re:3D who can chop up your FDM prototypes and re-extrude the plastic.
But what if you didn’t need to make anything at all? Today there are about 4 billion mobile devices on the planet that natively support augmented reality. If you are reading this and you have bought a smartphone or tablet in the last decade – that means you!
Enter the massless prototype. While AR can’t solve all of your prototyping needs, it is a crucial tool for every designer & engineer to have access to. Here are just a few of the ways that you can use AR to accelerate your design workflow, lower your costs, and reduce your carbon footprint – all at the same time.
Continue reading… “Massless Prototyping with Augmented Reality”