CAD & OBJ Viewer

CAD & OBJ Viewer is designed to be a tool to assist engineers or other designers view their models in virtual reality before bringing them into existence. The program allows a user to add OBJ format files to a specific directory that is read by the program at runtime. Within the virtual environment a user can then load up that object and manipulate it using a small selection of gestures.

As an engineer myself, I plan to use this utility to check the visual appearance of objects, check clearances and/or interference, check for safety concerns, etc. While 3D printing is becoming a popular way for engineers and designers to quickly validate their designs, that process still requires time and money. Bringing a model into vr requires minimal time and virtually no cost while providing a lot of the same validation that rapid prototyping can offer.

VIEWING YOUR OWN CREATIONS:

To view your own creation, follow the instructions in the included Readme text file. NOTE: all obj files must contain less than 60000 vertices. This is a current limitation of the OBJ reader.

NOTE: Large AMF files take some time to load and i haven't implemented asynchronous loading yet. As a result, when loading these files, the game will freeze until the object loads. Please be patient while it loads. This is a known issue and is being worked on.

SOLIDWORKS USERS:

If you are a SolidWorks user and would like to bring your models to life, simply use this community generated macro within solidworks to export your model to the required OBJ format: https://forum.solidworks.com/thread/54270 . Then follow the same instructions as above.

**** Just added AMF (additive Manufacturing Format) support. This is a current save as option from SolidWorks (in other words, you don't need the macro listed above.)

Benefits of AMF:

• Native SolidWorks Export
• Small files size for large complex models
• New standard for 3D printing

• No vertex normals support from SolidWorks yet
• Not widely adopted yet.

CURRENT FEATURES:

• Load OBJ and AMF files from local directory
• Drag object side to side and up and down with left hand grab
• Rotate object about vertical axis with right hand grab
• Scale object with two hand grab and spread
• Fine adjustment control using sliders
• Recenter scene to current real-world direction

FEATURES IN DEVELOPMENT

• Load FBX files w/ annimations
• Change object manipulation mode
• Change Scene

• Objects do not load Async, therefore the application will "freeze" for a few seconds while it loads. (can cause motion sickness)
• The quaternion for imported AMF files is slightly off on some models.