Towards a Holistic Workflow Pattern for Using VR for Design Decisions: Learning From Other Disciplines

In their respective design processes automobile manufacturers use more and more virtual prototyping. Today, even some design decisions are made, based on purely digital vehicle models. This is a report of a recent study, which was done with a German car manufacturer, that has looked into different academic disciplines besides computer science, to find new ways to vitalize and stage digital vehicle models. Usability engineering, psychology, dramatics, and theater teaching were consulted. As a result a novel workflow pattern is proposed, exemplarily conceptualized for Design Reviews of automobiles. It embeds the use of Virtual Reality (VR) or Mixed Reality (MR) between Briefing and Debriefing phases, to give the users a chance for preparing and postprocessing the digital experience. This workflow pattern and its pragmatic conception are introduced in this paper.Copyright © 2011 by ASME