Autodesk teams up with Microsoft to use HoloLens for product design and engineering (video)

To fully understand what we could do with HoloLens, we spent several months building dozens of prototypes and tested many scenarios to understand how customers could benefit most from a mixed reality environment. We explored ways to make work areas have infinite space by using walls and open areas overlaid with holographic objects. We explored how users could collaborate together by looking at the same holographic model and being able to walk around it and discuss various aspects of the design as if it were really sitting on their table. We explored the possibilities of creating and editing directly from a holographic model, as well as pitching a final design to an executive team or a customer.

We were blown away by the possibilities. All of those benefits and other variations are coming to fruition in the FreeForm project. But one of the hardest things about this experience is trying to explain it in words or even pictures. Unfortunately, we can’t give everyone the hands-on (or should I say “heads-on”) experience yet. But we have assembled a video that illustrates how a mechanical engineer and an industrial designer can work together in holographic space to solve various tasks in a far more collaborative way than they could without it.