What is Virtual Product Modelling? Complete Guide to VPM

In the digital era, ‘Copy, Cut and Paste’ sounds simple, done at the click of a mouse. There was a time when products were designed manually on drawing boards with equipment like T-square, set square, pencils, erasers, cutters and much else, and glued together, literally. With the advent of desktop computers in the 1980s, everything changed – and the rest is history – with software replacing conventional tools. Goodbye drudgery, welcome to the virtual age!

What is Virtual Product Modelling?

Products are conceived in the mind, were traditionally shaped on the drawing board, and underwent several rounds of prototypes and refinement, before entering production. Virtual product modelling or VPM is the contemporary technology of shaping products directly in virtual space on the computer screen, through one of the many customised software programs, armed with an array of digital tools.

How Can Virtual Prototyping Help in Product Development?

Virtual prototyping simplifies the entire process of product development by eliminating several stages from the traditional product design process that involved manual work from design to paper models and then prototypes. Traditionally, product concepts were first realized by manual drawing with all the measurement and calculations for dimensional accuracies and engineering strengths and then creating rapid prototypes at each stage of modification and refinement, making the process long drawn and expensive. With the use of virtual product modelling or VPM, advanced modelling and design tools are available for virtual product modeling, which means there is no need for making physical prototypes.

What are the Benefits of Virtual Prototyping?

Virtual prototyping is the creation of a digital recreation of what the end product will look like. Virtual prototypes can be used to test out designs, show clients how their finished products will look, and for marketing purposes. The benefits of virtual prototyping are that it allows companies to check their product design before committing time and money into creating the physical prototype. The creation process requires less effort than physical prototyping, which can be helpful for companies who want an efficient way to market their products.

Virtual prototyping also has the ability to create a more realistic view of how an object would look like in real life than wireframes or drawings because real-life materials are used in models, such as metal finishes and textures. This means that potential customers will know exactly what they’re buying.

What are Some of the Design Problems that Can Be Solved with VPM?

Virtual product modelling is a cutting-edge technology which can be used for a variety of purposes.

The most common ones are:

• Efficient design iteration – with virtual product modelling, designers can easily preview their designs in 3D before they are built, which can provide unprecedented levels of realism and help them iterate on the design faster.
• Integrated collaboration – the use of virtual product models in a shared workspace lets teams collaborate more efficiently and confidently.
• Improved quality control – by using virtual product models to validate designs before they go into production, companies can avoid costly mistakes that come from errors in prototypes or expensive physical prototyping.
• Virtual product modelling is becoming more and more important for architects as it helps them visualize their creations in 3D before they are built.
• The models created by virtual product modelling are often used together with other digital tools such as AR or VR technologies, which allow people to virtually place themselves inside a design before it is built.

How to Get Started with VPM?

With all the advantages virtual product modelling or VPM brings to the table, it would be hard for any company engaged in design and manufacturing to ignore this digital technology. However, this needs careful planning and assessment as the company needs to invest in hardware, software and skillsets if it decides to have an in-house department for VPM. However, for some companies with limited needs, outsourcing of their requirements of virtual product modeling and virtual prototypes to professional service providers makes better sense. Outsourcing it to companies like EAXPRTS have the necessary expertise as well as experience in this domain.

Conclusion

The design process is changing, moving from the manual/physical mode to the digital/virtual world. The process of sketching and drawing by hand with the help of ruler and compass is replaced by stylus and mouse moving shapes on the screen. From 3D product modelling to virtual prototyping, it not only has various advantages over conventional methods, but also promotes design innovation and collaboration between different teams and locations. For companies that do not have the resources for in-house facilities, there are outsourcing companies that offer virtual product modelling services at competitive rates.

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