2022 Tony Stark's Buyer's Guide: Best XR Gear, Tools, and Compatible Software

VIVEKA DEVADAS: The global extended reality market, which was valued at $27 billion in 2021, is expected to reach a value of $250 billion by 2028. There's never been a more exciting time to dive into extended reality that's constantly advancing. But today, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the constant iterations of high-end gear, numerous apps, and all the various possibilities.

So if you've been asking yourself what's next for your business, including how to craft your own toolbox. Then we have some exciting recommendations that you can adapt to meet your changing needs. So strap in, and welcome to our class, your 2022 Tony Stark's Buyer's Guide, where we'll take you into the best extended reality gear, tools, and compatible software.

So before we begin, let's take a quick look at our Safe Harbor statement. The presentations made during this event may contain forward-looking statements and related assumptions. Purchasing decisions should not be made based on reliance of these statements.

So let me start by introducing myself. My name is Viveka Devadas. I'm located in the Boston office. This is my sixth year at Autodesk. And I currently work as a TAS, or a technical account specialist. In my previous avatars, I've been a project architect, BIM manager, and a 3D visualization designer. You can connect me on LinkedIn and also find me on the Autodesk forums.

SHAIK SADIQ: Hi my name is Shaik Sadiq. And I'm located here in Toronto, Canada. I am also a technical account specialist. I joined Autodesk for about six years. And I've been working with gaming and VFX industry teams.

In my previous life, I worked as a tech artist. And I have had the privilege of being part of VFX, projects like Life of Pi, Doctor Strange, Passengers, and a couple others as well. So starting with why we need extended reality experiences-- we will look at technological advancements with a couple of case studies from a few different industries, diving into creative possibilities. And then in the next segment, we'll take a closer look at the compatible software applications.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: We'll jump into our exploration part, which is our third segment. And we look at some latest extended reality gear, gadgets, and some unique accessories. Finally, we'll look at crafting a custom toolbox with a buyer's guide, and we'll take a plunge into budget-friendly setups that work with your design requirements.

But today, even though there's a lot of scope for innovation and extended reality, as with every advancement in technology, there are numerous challenges. The first one is time-consuming processes, where we encounter multiple platforms, which is communication issues. And this leads to frustration and unexpected delays.

SHAIK SADIQ: And in the media and entertainment industry, a professional spends a lot of time on researching the technology they want to use, even before starting to design for extended reality.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: So today, 98% of the megaprojects face a lot of cost overruns or delays. A good example will be the Denver International Airport, which had a cost overrun of $3.1 billion. And there was an unexpected delay for almost 16 months. Larger projects are prone to more risks, regulation, and unfortunately, we make a lot of mistakes along the way.

SHAIK SADIQ: And there are far more challenges along the way in media and entertainment industry as well, for producing premium video content. They have to undergo massive obstacles around advertising, branding, and even distribution fees. But with XR technology, it plays a key role in resolving these challenges in most industries. Let's see how we can resolve these bottlenecks.

So today's projects require broader teams and seamless collaboration in less time. And that's exactly why we extended reality experiences. So XR, it stands for extended reality. It's an umbrella term that covers virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality XR technology encourages multi-user collaboration as well. That's the main point of it.

All XR tech makes use of a human-to-PC screen interface and modifies it, either by one, immersing you in the virtual environment, which is known as virtual reality, or augmenting the user's surroundings, which is augmented reality. And when you combine both of those two, it becomes mixed reality as well.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: Multi-user collaboration sounds like a fun, teamwork, which is a huge time saver for our ecosystem. I also wanted to highlight that this technology offers a delightful user experience, as it enhances everyday life. And it blurs the line between real life and a virtual world. Research studies show that experiences make us happier than physical objects. And overall, it makes the digital encounter even more delightful. Most importantly, these two factors drive to a successful product adoption.

SHAIK SADIQ: The advent of technological advancements and extended reality means industries can spend their resources beyond a set radius. But there are certain flavor of combinations and resources that are known to work well together. We'll look at some examples in the AEC industry, where there are some similar XR strategies as well.

So in the AEC industry, with extended reality, architects and designers are creating novel ways of working. Right from conducting initial design reviews, they can collaborate virtually both internally and externally with clients and make crucial design decisions. In the first image in the slide, you can see the Notre Dame Cathedral's timber roof framing.

So we all know that it caught flames, raging flames back in 2019. And Autodesk assisted in digitizing the reconstruction of Notre Dame, using applications like Recap, Revit, 3ds Max, to analyze point cloud data and build a 3D BIM model. In the second image, you can see a designer detecting clashes in structural systems through virtual building inspections. So this is a huge timesaver because we are able to detect problems even before the building is built.

In the final image, a little more advancement in technology, you can see an operator wearing a headset and a red jacket. And he is actually controlling this human robot or the humanoid in spaces where it's very hard to reach in a construction site. The media and entertainment industry has experimented with the extended reality technology in a very creative way.

The animation on the top left shows a filmmaking technique, which is called a virtual production. And while it's existed for years, the innovation is that the Mandalorian's alien planets and stars were actually viewable by the actors on the day. And most importantly, it moved with the camera.

Next, the bottom left image, that shows the Mandalorian crew, using Epic's Unreal Engine, and 20 foot tall and 75 foot long set of LED screens. And this technology emerges both the production crew and the cast inside of changing CGI environments. And finally, on the image on the right, you can see that the Mandalorian didn't shoot in front of green screens or are on location in Tunisia. Instead, its actors performed on a giant LED stage in Los Angeles itself, where the background appeared exactly as it would for audiences as well.

Virtual production allows crews to shoot anywhere at any time in one location and helps actors immerse themselves in those backgrounds more effectively. And next, VR enables car manufacturers to test their cars under any weather conditions in any location in the automotive industry. The image on the top right shows that official car dealers have a few car models available in the showroom at one point. So you rarely can see how your official car will look like in a certain color, in a certain configuration until you get it.

So the same thing goes with the interior and exterior as well. And the image on the bottom left, that shows that VR eliminates the need for renting larger areas and placing many cars in dealerships. Virtual showrooms can be easily and quickly be implemented, regardless of the size of a building a dealer rents.

And the image on the bottom left shows that VR head-mounted display. Customers can individually configure their car and see every detail in virtually any environment, selecting from various equipment options. And this positively influences the customer's shopping decisions since they can try out what they are going to buy beforehand.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: So let's look at the health care industry, now that we've seen how extended reality works in the media and entertainment industry, as well as the AEC industry. Health care professionals are using extended reality on a much broader scale. The image on the left, you can see virtual reality being used in medical training. In Johns Hopkins, surgeons use augmented reality headsets to perform surgeries in VR. And medical students are using virtual devices to for education purposes.

As per research, extended reality can help patients with anxiety and phobias. In the image on the right, you can see a radiology unit. And with the help of VR, it alleviates the discomfort of getting into an MRI scan. The virtual reality experience incorporates sounds and moments from this experience. And in the end, the patient has a very pleasant experience.

One last use case is it's gaining momentum in home health. The healthcare monitoring devices are being used for patients who are completely bedridden. So they use sensors and cameras to track the health of these patients periodically.

SHAIK SADIQ: And using drones to inspect infrastructure projects is a complete game changer. The technology improves safety, faster and easier inspections, more detailed data collection, and reduced costs. Drones and extended reality technology are highly efficient, as they can easily identify bridge corrosion, fractures, and many other issues. Evaluation will become more reliable and accurate, which will be helpful for our engineers in their work.

Now, let's move on and look at compatible applications, starting with our industry collections. Our Autodesk industry collections offer an integrated set of tools to help you create more imaginatively, solve complex problems, and make better design decisions. Each collection includes the essential products for your industry at one great price.

So we have three collections, like the architecture, engineering, and construction collection, which is the AEC, and product design and manufacturing collection, PDM, and media and entertainment collection which is the M&E. And in the coming few slides, we will give you more information about these as well.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: So at Autodesk, we want to create opportunities to help users from different backgrounds make smart decisions, by providing you with compatible applications that interact with your huge complex data. So let's look at our four extended reality solutions that span over multiple industries.

SHAIK SADIQ: The Wild enables real-time immersive, collaborative design reviews, using 3D models, especially for architecture, engineering, and construction teams. A designer can create fluidly, 3D sketches and create VR for most of the three applications out there. And users can easily share designs with Fusion 360, as Fusion 360s AR augmented reality transports designs to real environments for further analysis. And automotive design team uses VRED to review and explore immersive collaborative design features as well.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: So let's take a look at the AEC collection, which is priced at $3,270 per year. The image here shows some of our top products, ranging from Revit, Civil 3D, CAD, InfraWorks. You can view the full collection at the link on the bottom left. And here's where you can also explore workflows by industry, namely building design, infrastructure, and construction.

SHAIK SADIQ: Autodesk Media and Entertainment collection is priced at $2,480 per year. It includes Maya, 3ds Max, Motion Builder, Mudbox, and Arnold as well. So this collection includes all of the tools you will need to build a powerful and scalable 3D animation pipeline for complex simulations, effects, and rendering as well. The image shows some of the top products out there, Maya, 3ds Max, Arnold.

And you can view a full collection at the link, which is presented at the bottom of the page out there. And that is also where you can find more information on workflows like film and TV production, game design, and development as well.

So it looks like there is a rising demand from customers, as technology constantly evolves. So let's explore extended reality platforms and other partner applications now. So at Autodesk, we are continuously adapting products to meet changing customer needs. And our diverse technologies will need to work together, driving the need for interoperability standards.

So we strive to use our partner network to stay at the forefront of innovation and technologies. So when you take gaming on the on the media and entertainment side, Unity, Unity Engine, it enables architecture, manufacturing, entertainment, and more to bring Autodesk data into immersive real-time 3D environments inside AR and VR both. And then there's Epic Games' Unreal, which extends your investment in Autodesk solutions to create rich and immersive experiences, both again in AR, VR.

And then there is Nvidia's Cloud XL, which is a part of the Nvidia's Omniverse which increases efficiency for designers, engineers, artists, by extending Autodesk data with streaming extended reality applications. And also, we have our ARKit apps for iOS devices. And we have Google arvr for mobile devices. And then there is Metaverse, which has become hugely popular recently.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: On the AEC, that's the architecture, engineering, and construction site. We have three tools, which are our partner-development apps. So for the first one is Arkio, which is a collaborative design tool for virtual reality. It can be used on desktops, tablets, and phones. And it provides bidirectional workflows from Revit to BIM 360. That's our cloud.

Secondly, we have an app called Resolve, which is a collaborative virtual reality software that is mainly used in construction operations and maintenance. This is built on top of our Autodesk Forge API platform. Finally, we have Enscape, which is a real-time visualization tool and also, a virtual reality plugin, which empowers design workflows by turning these building models into immersive 3D experiences.

SHAIK SADIQ: And then there are other notable applications as well. Don't want to leave them out. We have Houdini, which people use to create particle effects and then take them into other runtime engines. We have Adobe Photoshop. Users use Adobe Illustrator as well. CGM, Black Shark, other engines like [INAUDIBLE] engine. And Omniverse of course. And a couple of other notable applications out there.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: So that was a lot of apps. So let's move on to something fun. So on the image on the left, we have the Angry Birds, which is a very famous popular game which started a few years back. And what you see here is the Isle of Pigs on the iOS. This is a fun game which now uses augmented reality technology. Enables users to play completely based on physics where players throw birds at pigs.

The image two in the middle shows an IKEA app. So it's an augmented reality app again. And it lets you virtually blaze true to scale 3D models. For example, you could place furniture in your very own living room and decide whether it's apt for your space. So this combines the latest augmented reality technology with IKEA's smart home solutions.

The last image on the right shows the famous Snapchat augmented reality, which again is one of the most popular used apps among the younger generation. And it lets users create their own emojis, bitmojis, and even participate in fun engagements.

SHAIK SADIQ: Now for the recreational apps. So social virtual reality is a simulated environment where we are users and AR users from different locations can meet together and interact with each other. And they can also participate in shared activities like watching movies, playing games, attending concerts, or even collaborating at work. So the first image that you see over there is the Beat Saber, which is a VR rhythm game. Where the slash the beats of adrenaline pumping music as they fly towards you surrounded by a futuristic world.

And then on the right, you see that is the Oculus app for ESPN. That shows some live games of soccer where users can join in on the VIP lounge, and watch the game and also access other game related data in virtual reality. Virtual reality simulated stadiums as well. So sports pre-game shows these days use augmented reality as well to discuss, assess, and present their conversations in a more unique or in a realistic way. And then there is the NBA events that have been happening during this time.

So you can watch an NBA game in VR and experience all of that energy and excitement of being inside the NBA arena itself. You can hang out with your fellow NBA fans before, during, and after the game. And Live NBA VR games are now available on Verizon venues. On the Oculus VR app as well.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: Now that we've seen applications, let's discuss the Metaverse and virtual identities. The Metaverse has received over 84,000 mentions on social media in 2021 alone. What exactly is this Metaverse? So Autodesk defines the Metaverse as an immersive virtual environment where innovators from different spheres of life collaborate to create, assimilate, and iterate in a constantly evolving space.

It's regarded as the next iteration of the internet or the Web3 where physical and digital worlds come together. Where people can explore, shop, play games, spend time with distant friends, attend a concert, or hold a business meeting. This term was initially coined in a book called Snow Crash Neal Stephenson several years ago. So it's not a new term for us.

SHAIK SADIQ: And then virtual identities are 2D, 3D avatars are an integral part of the Metaverse as well, which is constantly evolving. And so far, there are four different types of virtual identities. Like generic, abstract, hybrid, and caricature identities. A virtual identity can be created for a user which often serves as an interface used to make an online appearance. And then this next-- can we move? Yeah.

The synergy between the real and virtual worlds is becoming more and more noticeable in different activities of daily life. So it seems like few celebrities have entered the Metaverse. They are trying to sell NFTs, which is the nonfungible token set out there on the crypto market. They're trying to sell these NFTs of a virtual version of themselves or featuring like fishing the artwork, music videos, and such.

And now that we've explored the technological advancement, some use cases, and applications. Let's look at some extended reality gear. The virtual reality industry has changed extensively since the days of slotting a smartphone into a Google cardboard. That was a headset that was literally made from cardboard.

Now performance, display resolution, and field of view, which is the FOE have both improved. And there is more VR content out there than ever before. But seems like the most important, like the top barrier to VR adoption is that it's too expensive with almost 55% of the survey respondents listing that was their main hesitation to get into a VR platform.

So let's look at the top picks for VR. Personally, I would take the top two, which is Meta Quest 2 and the HTC VIVE Pro. Obviously, I would go with the Meta Quest 2 because no cables are required to set that up. And it has a really sharp display. And also if you need, it can be tethered with another [INAUDIBLE] or your cable. However, the only cons I would say that it has a shorter battery life. But again, it's a no brainer. It's an easy pick.

However on the HTC VIVE Pro side, it probably has the best resolution out there. Not just for gaming, but for other VR experiences as well. And it has very smooth tracking. And it also works with other valve index controllers as well. The only downside to that, though, is that it could get more expensive because it does not include the base stations or any controllers with it.

So I would be more of a Meta Quest 2 guy. So that is for anyone who is interested in playing in virtual reality. It's not that expensive. It has plenty of games and softwares out there. And you don't need to plug it into anything except to charge the battery. That's pretty much it.

And we did a couple interviews. We spoke to a couple of people internally at Autodesk. And looks like Meta Quest is certainly the topmost product to go to. And it certainly has its advantages.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: Thanks Shaik for covering the virtual reality part. Now stepping on into the augmented reality part. There is a lot of speculation especially on augmented reality glasses. And it's expected to have around 12 cameras, 8K displays, and a huge price tag of around $2000 to $3000. And a lot of media giants are competing with the production of the AR augmented reality glasses.

Now fitting all of this technology into a small space that looks close to real sunglasses is really hard. So let's see what are some of our top picks for the augmented reality glasses. So here we've listed the HoloLens, Google Glass, Lenovo Smart Glass, Vuzix Blade, and the Magic Leap. I would definitely recommend the HoloLens and the Magic Leap just because Magic Leap works with haptic gloves and other unique extended reality gear. Whereas the HoloLens has functionalities that can be adopted on a desktop. And it also can interact with holograms. And you could manipulate those holograms to suit your design needs.

So coming to these specialized accessories or these haptic gloves, what exactly are these haptic gloves? So you could use these haptic gloves to assimilate or are used for an inverse kind of magic process. Whereas you could experience or you could collaborate in real time with using multi-user haptic technology. And you could also have-- you could also enable an immersive environment by adopting a full body suit. And it allows for a full body mobility. Just if you're in this setup, you could experience this in a virtual reality environment.

And the image on the top right, you can see that you can create your own avatar even though you are staying at home. And could compete with this avatar in a park. And you could do a race together. But you'll be still sitting at home with your virtual reality or augmented reality headset. And you could compete with this avatar in real time on a geographical location of your choice.

So we have more to do with the augmented reality technology or with the help of robots. So in this image, you can see the professional is wearing haptic gloves. And he controls these robotic hands whose assembling something like a Rubik's cube. So you could control these robotic hands just by wearing these haptic gloves from thousands of miles away. So these are known as tactile telerobot technology, which brings a human like dexterity to robots so robots can do the same actions as humans.

Now we've seen virtual reality. We've seen augmented reality gear. It can get messy. So it involves lots of cable systems. And the sneak peek into something additional like even getting some specialized gear. The cable system where you can see the image on the right, you can see the cable system with ceiling bound. And you can still have a smooth interaction by just fixing your cables to this pulley system.

SHAIK SADIQ: One of the unique aspects of extended reality is that it can engage all five senses like sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. But seems like out of those five, only vision, sound, and touch are extensively used in all of those platforms. At least for now. So hoping more for the future. So now let's move on to our buyer's guide.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: Thanks, Shaik. So our buyer's guide is not a manual. But it's rather a tool. And I want you to think and customize it for your own needs. So it's not a document which is a one size fits all. But there's always this question of where do we start with crafting a unique buyer's guide for your extended reality process. It's a long, winding road.

So to enable and make this process much easier, we've come up with a three step process for you to craft your own buyer's guide for your extended reality technology and your design solutions. So the first step is I'm going to break it down into three steps. So the first step is going to be you're going to identify your details. And the second step is you're going to define your main outcome. What is your end goal?

And finally, when you have both your needs and your outcome outlined, you can make extended reality decisions, which is your third and final steps. Now you could ask me, what are the other steps involved as subsets of these three main steps? So I'm going to quickly walk you through the three steps.

So in the first step, I mentioned that we need to identify our needs. So for every industry, we have a huge ecosystem of many, many professionals and technicians. For example, here in the AEC world or the architecture engineering and construction world, we have a lot of people. We have construction professionals. We have architects, solution buyers, stakeholders, end users, et cetera. And everyone has a pain point or everyone has a need to fulfill. For example, a building management vendor has a pain point that he needs to get a real time analysis to optimize something like he wants to get a good solution and for a 10 year guide on a building performance. And he needs to use augmented reality technology.

So once we've identified a persona-- say in this case, for the architecture industry-- we've identified an architect and a VR technologist. So one of the pain points for an individual like this in a design ecosystem is the ability to create everything traditionally. But not being able to create it for faster design solutions. So there's also a rising need to create quick visualizations. So she could collaborate with her team, and she could make a quicker design decisions.

So now that we've identified someone from the ecosystem what they need is and what their outcome is, we jump onto the third step that is a final step in your buyer's guide where you need to make your extended reality decisions based on five C's.

So outlining the five C's, I want to specify that in any XR related solution or any process where you have to decide what kind of gear or what kind of solutions you need to pick, once you've identified your needs and your outcome, you need to really focus on the exact part where you need to discuss with your team on what kind of connection you want. Do you want a stationary setup? Do you want a mobile setup? Do you want a wired setup? Or a untethered setup? And is your hardware and software compatible with each other?

So you could refer back to our previous segment where Shaik and I mentioned about the hardware and software compatibility. And in the third segment, we did mention about a couple of VR and AR gear. So you could do research, and do the cumulative speculations on what will be the best solution for your particular design process.

The fourth, but the most important segment in deciding an exact setup, will be having your own communal space where either you can choose a good amount of square footage set up like a 10 by 10 square setup for your home or office. And if you're choosing to be stationary, you still need that space where you could move your arms and your head around when you're donning the headset. While the final C, which is the most important C, is the cost.

So you don't want to buy the most expensive setup for a small project. And it always goes with your needs and wants. And value versus quality. And you should always keep in mind of what are the deals.

So if I buy a Meta Quest, does it include a Fortnite game? Or if I buy a package, if I buy the building design suit, what exactly do I get out of it? Do I get anything extra? Is there a warranty? So once you've outlined these five Cs, the next thing is we will focus on matching this three step process with workflows.

SHAIK SADIQ: Thank you. Thanks a lot, Viveka. So we need to pick the right technologies when designing solutions for various extended reality applications to create content for different industries. So let's discuss some of those popular workflows right now. Starting with the media and entertainment industry.

So on the M&E side of things, which is the media and entertainment side of things, producers, directors, and other technology leads they have their preferred workflows. So others tend to make the assets in 3D applications. As you can see in 3ds, Max, Maya, Photoshop. The texture them using substance painter and other applications.

They also animate those assets inside these applications as well. It makes it more easily collaborative. And then once these assets are completed, they are exported into runtime engines like Unreal, Unity, Godot and other engines out there as [INAUDIBLE] or other native extensions for those particular runtime engines. So after this, the scenes get properly lighted, and they get properly set up. And then they can be exported into platforms like Windows, Android, and iOS. And other applications out there.

So the images that you are seeing right now, that is the Create VR plugin for Autodesk Maya, which artists can use to create environments and to prototype stuff. Or to create creatures. And all of this is done inside Maya virtual view.

VIVEKA DEVADAS: So we saw the media and entertainment part. And we saw a couple of demos that Shaik had mentioned for creating characters. Now there is a slight difference on the AEC side because Autodesk recently acquired Wild VR. So Wild VR, are as you can see, is an immersive collaborative platform. And it's easy for us to get into virtual reality just by a click of a button. And it can support up to eight people in virtual environments where you can load a Revit model or a 3D model directly into this collaborative platform. And this collaborative platform provides better alignment and helps us make smarter decisions.

And on the figure on the left, you can also see that it can integrate with the cloud. So The Wild is an application which again, going back to one of our compatibility features which we mentioned earlier, The Wild is compatible with what you see highlighted in the red rectangle. So it's compatible with Meta Quest, the HP Reverb, and Pico Neo, and the VIVE Pro. But it's not compatible with the VIVE Index and the VIVE Pro.

So as a designer, I think it's crucial for us to understand what hardware and what software work in conjunction and what is compatible with which kind of solution. So ultimately, I want to leave you with the fact that based on what we've shown you today-- the applications, and the gear, and the workflows-- I think we always need to put our needs versus our wants. It's always we can have something is nice to have. But do we really need it for our setup. The same goes for our design processes.

So I think it's important for us to outline our needs versus our wants. So once we outline that, I think we also should focus on the value versus the price. Are we getting the best value for investing in a high end gear? So we should always have two comparisons. Your needs versus your wants. And your value versus your price.

So finally I want we want to leave you with a note from the Iron Man. So Tony Stark sometimes says that you got to run before you walk. But we want to add to that by saying, you have to run before you walk with your toolbox so you can have your competitive advantage in whatever industry you choose. Thank you.

SHAIK SADIQ: Thank you.