Each year, user experience (UX) experts from across the globe gather to discuss real-world UX challenges at the World Usability Congress in Graz, Austria.

For AEC professionals, it’s become clear that virtual reality is a smart investment. But with the ever-growing size of the market, deciding which VR headset is best for you can be tough.

In the AEC industry, where miscommunication has caused a whole lot of headaches, tools for streamlining design review and model review workflows are growing in popularity. In fact, data shows that the AEC industry is using VR 10-25X more than gamers. This is because VR helps firms catch more errors, reduce change orders, and cut down on RFIs. At IrisVR, we provide the industry with the collaborative VR tools necessary to succeed.

This month, we're putting the spotlight on Fallon Carroll, our Executive Assistant & Operations Manager. Fallon talks about her what drew her to IrisVR, where in the Harry Potter universe she’d love to go in VR, and why autumn is her absolute favorite time of year.

Virtual reality is a disruptive technology. It’s impacting industries across the globe, from social media and gaming to architecture and healthcare. Since VR is relatively new, it’s only natural that certain myths about it have taken hold. But virtual reality isn’t going away any time soon, and believing popular misinformation about it will just hold you back from experiencing its true potential.

Our friends at Robert A.M. Stern Architects (aka RAMSA) have contributed this guest post - it details their precise workflow in Photoshop, Revit, and Rhino for creating realistic water in VR.

At Oculus Connect 5, Facebook announced Oculus Quest, the company's newest standalone VR headset. Image courtesy of Windows Central.

Each year, Oculus Connect offers the VR community a look at the future of the field. In the conference’s 2016 and 2017 iterations, Oculus presented their standalone, untethered VR headset, Project Santa Cruz. This year, at Connect 5, Santa Cruz took center stage, receiving a new name (Oculus Quest), a price ($399), and a release date (spring 2019). For design professionals, Quest should be a game-changer in the continual, well, quest to modernize workflows with VR.

Anglian Water performing VR design review with Prospect.

Anglian Water’s @One Alliance is a collaborative organization of consultants and contractors working together to deliver more than half of Anglian Water’s capital investment program. Together they design and construct water and water recycling (waste water) treatment centers that serve more than six million people in the East of England (and Hartlepool Water) and maintain and improve the water mains and the sewerage network in the region.

Image courtesy of Reed Hilderbrand.

Case Study Highlights:

• Reed Hilderbrand was a pioneer firm in using VR as a tool to improve how they visualize and explore projects. 

• They knew VR could provide a more accurate sense of scale and depth, giving them a better understanding of topography, planting, and more.