Back in November at AU23, Autodesk unveiled Autodesk Workshop XR as part of its ecosystem of digital solutions for the AEC industry. The Workshop XR technologies in immersive technologies like VR and AR (augmented reality) are largely those acquired when the software giant purchased The Wild in 2022, which itself acquired IrisVR in 2021.
Workshop XR
So what is Autodesk Workshop XR?
The XR platform is a place for efficient immersive collaboration for AEC professionals. Here’s what Autodesk said:
“Workshop XR will transform how architects and building engineers plan and review projects,” said Nicola Fonta, senior director and general manager of XR at Autodesk. “Most building projects that go over budget do so because issues are discovered once construction has begun. We’ve heard many customers share the challenges of reviewing designs across dispersed teams.”
An image of Autodesk Workshop XR in action. (Image: Autodesk)
Both BIM and VDC (virtual design and construction) teams can review and collaborate directly inside their respective 3D models planned for construction and use those models for ongoing immersive-based reviews and confirmation. This would require all participants to have access to immersive headsets like the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, and Meta Quest 3. Autodesk Workshop XR is
Review at 1:1
A key aspect of doing reviews inside immersive environments is the 1:1 scale relationship between you and the architecture or environment. Architosh has noted this importance since we first started experiencing this advantage directly at the various booths of VR software vendors at AIA National Expos.
One thing of note with the Workshop XR is that Autodesk collaborated with Meta (Facebook’s parent company). As a result, the new immersive platform from Autodesk just works with Meta’s headsets.
“Meta’s collaboration with Autodesk brings our collective vision for the future of work to life,” said Jamie Keane, director of product at Meta. “Meta Quest headsets and Meta Avatars offer a secure connection to Workshop XR that takes on a new dimension of collaboration and presence. This immersive experience transforms the way teams work by boosting creativity and expanding the possibilities of what can be achieved.”
Autodesk Workshop XR was done in collaboration with Meta. (Image: Autodesk)
Key capabilities of Autodesk Workshop XR include the ability to bring teams of users into the same immersive experience, directly inside BIM and 3D models. There is no prep necessary for interacting with models that are already inside Autodesk Construction Cloud. As part of that cloud-hosted experience, collaborative teams have access to project data stored in Autodesk Construction Cloud as it is streamed into Workshop XR.
Jon Matalucci of AEC firm giant, Stantec, said, “Autodesk Workshop XR has added incredible value to how we collaborate. Our employees are based in over 400 locations, and Workshop XR has brought teams together in a workspace that is realistic and approachable.”
Matalucci notes that bringing people together in a common data environment (CDE) helps create more efficient problem-solving. This is common to all CDE solutions, whether immersive or non-immersive. One thing that may place a demand on the success of Workshop XR is the small percentage of AEC pros who own or have access to an immersive headset.
To learn more, go here.
Architosh Analysis and Commentary
As a personal fan of immersive technology, I hosted a panel discussion as part of the Boston Architectural College’s BAC-Talks back in 2021, featuring The Wild’s CEO and founder, Gabe Paez. It was quite evident from our two practitioners who also participated in that panel discussion, that immersive technologies offer powerful capabilities for AEC professionals that are uncommonly utilized. Part of the challenge is the presence, or lack thereof, of the hardware. Traditionally, the headsets required powerful GPUs that were not always present in CAD and BIM workstations in AEC firms. And they could rarely work off of laptops on job sites. All that has changed now with the latest few generations of headsets.
Looking forward, the AEC industry still has low numbers of active headsets in AEC firms. The novelty of VR, in particular, has long worn off. And AI (artificial intelligence) is really the emerging tech darling of the day. Still, what Autodesk is attempting to do with Workshop XR is embed these long-running emerging technologies into their cloud tools to help drive greater adoption. It remains to be seen, however, if the real driver of immersive comes from the consumer space rather than the industrial space with, say, Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro headset or something else on the horizon.
