NVIDIA DesignWorks to enable photorealistic rendering and VR experiences for designers

NVIDIA has announced NVIDIA DesignWorks and DesignWorks VR to allow professional designers to take advantage of photorealistic rendering techniques and virtual reality in their work. It parallels the function of NVIDIA GameWorks and GameWorks VR, which aims to provide game developers with the latest technology and tools to build more immersive and realistic games.

In fact, DesignWorks VR expands on the existing SDK for GameWorks VR, adding improved support for open GL and core features for professional VR applications.

Put simply, DesignWorks is a set of software tools, libraries and technologies for developers of professional design software to create better tools for designers themselves to generate realistic models of things like buildings and automobiles.

While NVIDIA is constantly at work to enable more realistic rendering technologies for games, these same techniques can be applied to professional design software as well. To this end, DesignWorks wants to give application developers a way to apply NVIDIA’s work in both physically-based rendering (PBR) and physically-based materials in creating photorealistic renderings of objects.

Photorealistic renderings are especially important for professional designers. For instance, an architect would need to understand how sunlight would reflect off exterior windows, or just how light would fall from a particular fixture. Unlike movies and games where accuracy is less important as long as the object looks good, professional designers need accurate visualizations of their product in the real world.

DesignWorks encompasses DesignWorks VR, which is a suite of APIs, libraries, and features for incorporating VR into design software and creating a VR experience on head-mounted displays and other VR platforms. While gaming-related applications of VR are grabbing the headlines, VR technology is invaluable in helping designers get a better sense of how their products might interact with customers.

Ford Motor Company has already been using VR in its automotive development over the past few years. Designers and engineers are able to view the interior and exterior design of a car through an Oculus Rift headset before building a physical prototype, so VR could help produce more refined prototypes from the outset.

Source: NVIDIA (1), (2)

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