Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 17

51 BACK TO BASICS Continued on next page Interactive Images Online interactive images now allow users to view a 3D model interactively, from all angles. Users can zoom in to see minute details or zoom out to see large installations from normally-impossible vantage points. Users can explore freely, or be set to a guided mode that shows particular areas of interest. Interactive images can be used as an effective marketing tool that allows engineers to depict an entire facility layout as well as individual pieces of equipment. As a training tool, it enables learners to thoroughly familiarize themselves with equipment down to minute hidden details or to study facility configurations. Now this training can be done on-demand and at their own pace. Much like digital still images, some tools allow multi-user collaboration with notations and markup added to interactive images online. Interactive imagery can be used on websites and social media, or at tradeshow booths. Animated Videos Videos are essentially a series of many still images strung together, sometimes with the addition of an audio track. But 3D rendered animated videos go much farther as a presentation tool; showing process flow, motion or change over time makes them invaluable for depicting industrial processes. With this tool, you can show molten metal solidifying from inside the mold, or illustrate all steps of the casting process throughout a foundry. Exploded views or cutaways can be created to clarify all aspects of a design or layout. Technical or marketing videos can be used on websites, on social media, or shown at tradeshows. Augmented Reality Augmented Reality (AR) combines digital imagery or animation with a view of the real-world environment either with either a head-mounted display/goggles or using flatscreen devices with a camera. This allows for a straightforward depiction of additions or substitutions to the user’s environment, such as adding a large piece of equipment inside an existing industrial site. AR also allows users to view overlays in the real world, functioning as labels or highlights, that can act as guidance during training sessions or even during routine maintenance work. Multiple users can gather in the same environment and be shown the same AR content, allowing for natural social interaction. With the right tools, those users can also make changes to the 3D model in real-time, or sculpt their own new additions to be added in a new design iteration. Multiple users can experience the same training session in AR, without scheduling conflicts and without interrupting production. AR experiences can be streamed online to remote users, set up in a dedicated space, or deployed in an exhibit booth.