Voir VR
Pioneering the future of collaborative product development in VR
Partner
Funded by
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
What if the future of product configuration wasn’t limited to the physical world, but transformed into an active, collaborative space where you and your clients could customize designs right to their individual needs? Welcome to VoirVR: a cutting-edge collaborative visualization tool, redefining engagement, creation, and innovation in the metaverse. It provides an immersive and collaborative VR experience that goes beyond the screen while reducing user strain. It allows users to dive into virtual worlds and bring digital prototypes to life. They can engage in live and asynchronous idea exchanges from anywhere in the world, creating in a pleasant atmosphere for collaboration.
For this research project, our scope was to create an intuitive and low-barrier UX & UI design for a holistically engaging user experience in Virtual Reality. Through our partnership with the Chemnitz University of Technology, we refined our concepts and designs based on user feedback, achieving the highest standards of usability and joy of use. The result: VoirVR is characterized by its excellent hedonic quality and overall user experience. As a prototype, it lays the foundation for a future platform for creative collaboration in VR.
Goals & Highlights
Research & Development
Product Configuration
The heart of our application is an interactive table where users can explore, customize and visualize products. Interactive workstations circle the table and allow the configuration of different components- materials and colors directly on the product model. In addition, different environmental scenarios can be switched, bringing the product in animated visualizations to life.
First Layouts in Microsoft Maquette as VR Sketches
Interactive Table
The interactive table presents the product as a miniature model and encourages detailed discussions and explorations. In addition, users can teleport into a 1:1 scale view, enhancing their understanding of the product’s true size and spatial impact. This immersive teleportation feature not only enriches the user’s perception of the product’s dimensions and aesthetics but also invites detailed examination.
Collaboration
Collaboration in VoirVR is based on real-world interactions, making teamwork in VR intuitive and effective. Tools like pens and microphones, used by actions such as pulling a pen from “behind the ear” or holding a controller like a dictaphone, enhance user experience. These familiar interactions allow users to collaboratively create and save screenshots, 3D sketches, and audio notes for future sessions – synchronous and asynchronous.
Comfortable Environment
VoirVR features a Launch Room for private onboarding and a Creation Space for collaborative product configuration. The environment blends futuristic designs with natural elements promoting concentration and creativity. An on-site study by Chemnitz University of Technology proved our environment to be much more pleasant and relaxing than conventional VR spaces (industrial hall, holodeck or grid scene). This validates our approach of creating a workspace that not only fosters productivity but the well-being.
Early Design Draft
Additional Ideas & Concepts
Headspace Interface
Funding
Research, prototyping and evaluation of VoirVR was supported by ZIM for a funding period of 2 years (11/2021-11/2023). ZIM stands for “Central Innovation Programme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)”. It is a funding programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action that aims to promote the innovative capacity of SMEs.
