Innovative integration techniques between Virtual Reality systems and CAx tools

The efficacy of virtual reality (VR) as a design support technique is widely recognised by industries. However, the efficiency of the routine employment of VR into the product development process (PDP) still finds an obstacle in the poor integration of the tools employed. The use of VR still needs long and quite hard procedures to work effectively; the models have to be converted into a format that is compatible with VR systems and each task requires an effort to prepare the virtual environment or to post-process the results that depend on the complexity of the task. This work analyses some VR applications into the PDP and describes some ideas to effectively support the operator that prepares the virtual environment. These ideas have been tested by developing four software interfaces, able to create an easy data exchange link between VR and other design tools like CAD, CAE and computer aided control engineering (CACE).