Methodological Basis of Virtual Reality Technology Application in Industrial Design

The paper is devoted to the development of methodological foundations for the application of virtual reality technologies (VR-technologies) at various stages of car design and their promotion on the market, in particular, when performing design, prototyping, development of educational and advertising products. The paper analyzes the main areas of application of virtual reality technologies in industrial design in mechanical engineering. An overview of the parameters of the specialized software Unreal Engine 4 and the HTC Vive hardware set used to create and demonstrate virtual projects is performed. System requirements for computer software and hardware for creating virtual projects have been formed. A generalization of our own experience of using virtual reality technologies in the design of an electric vehicle with a frame-panel structure is carried out. The technique of using virtual reality tools in order to create virtual projects for demonstration of design solutions and functionality of mechanical engineering products is described. The issues of choosing software and hardware, their characteristics are considered, as well as a description of the stages of creating a virtual project is given. The process of developing a virtual project is divided into the stages of preparing and transforming a three-dimensional computer model of the demonstrated product into its virtual digital prototype, creating a virtual environment for it, assigning materials and textures with the necessary properties to the environment and the object, setting lighting, navigation parameters and animated actions, optimizing the display of shadows and finalizing the project. The main results of approbation of the developed methodology are presented on the example of creating virtual projects for demonstrating an electric vehicle: in an urban virtual environment and in a virtual pavilion.