Built for 3D design workflows, Sony’s new XR system will launch later this year with an exclusive version of Siemens NX.
Engineering just got more immersive, thanks to a new partnership announced today at CES. Engineering software developer Siemens has joined forces with hardware maker Sony to build an extended reality (XR) headset for 3D designers.
As yet unnamed, Sony’s “immersive spatial content creation system” will include a head-mounted display (HMD) and a pair of unique controllers that Sony says are optimized for precisely interacting with 3D objects. While the system will eventually be compatible with a variety of 3D software platforms, Sony is launching it exclusively with a custom version of Siemens NX CAD software called NX Immersive Designer.
Specs of Sony’s new XR headset and controllers
By now there are many headsets for virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR)—XR collectively—and engineers are certainly using them. But Sony’s new XR headset is the first made specifically for 3D designers. Here’s what we know about the hardware so far.
The XR headset will use OLED microdisplays to provide a 4K resolution supporting 96% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It will provide video see-through and the display will flip up, visor-like, so that users can switch back and forth between physical and virtual reality without removing the headset. The system will use a total of 6 cameras and sensors for spatial tracking.
The just-announced Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 Platform system-on-chip will be the brains of Sony’s new XR system. The headset will also support split rendering, meaning users can connect it to their computer to share the processing load for large 3D models. Sony hasn’t released system requirements, but other computer-aided XR headsets require at least a moderately capable discrete graphics card.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Sony’s new XR system is how users interact with it. There are two controllers: for the non-dominant hand, a “ring controller” that allows users to manipulate 3D objects; for the dominant hand, a mouse-like “pointing controller” for precision pointing. Sony claims that users will even be able to use a keyboard while wearing the head-mounted display—a huge win for any designers dependent on keyboard shortcuts.
What is NX Immersive Designer?
Sony’s new XR headset will launch with exclusive support for Siemens NX Immersive Designer, a version of Siemens NX with new capabilities for XR.
A Siemens spokesperson told engineering.com that this will replace NX’s existing VR capabilities “with a brand-new Unreal Engine based solution that supports greater collaboration capabilities, enhanced security and more immersive VR and AR based design and collaboration workflows with enhanced connections to live engineering data.”
This video from Siemens illustrates the developer’s vision for how engineers will use NX Immersive Designer with Sony’s XR headset.
Siemens plans to sell both the Sony hardware and NX Immersive Designer software as a bundle by the end of 2024. The company did not provide pricing details.
