ShapesXR

Case Study: SimtryxSimtryx, a XR studio focused on immersive healthcare simulations, integrated ShapesXR to enhance their design process. Using ShapesXR's prototyping tools and collaboration features, Simtryx improved their interface design workflow, ensuring accessibility and a robust user experience for the mixed reality training simulation. The tool facilitated remote team coordination and allowed efficient early testing and iteration of complex scenes in an MR environment without the involvement of developers.

Simtryx is a spatial computing startup developing the most accessible and immersive healthcare simulations for medical training in universities.

Our simulation blends the most advanced hand-tracking implementation for all kinds of physical tests, video passthrough for quick onboarding, and fully AI-powered speech interaction with the simulated patient.

Our team members are working globally, between the USA and Peru and we were looking for a tool that would allow us to redesign a more sophisticated interface without sacrificing accessibility, improve communication between the design and development team and test UX design more accurately before developing code for it."After experiencing the power of ShapesXR in designing our revamped user interface, it has become a staple in our workflow and a game-changer for us. Importing 3D models from our art team is seamless, and the collaboration tool encourages our remote team to work together naturally."- Hector Mondragon, Co-Founder & CEO

We've been using Figma for our design work with user experience and interface, but the more we built onto our product, the more we felt the need to review our design in a VR space before approving for production. This is because we found that positioning the simulation patient, with all the poses needed for user interaction, would require careful consideration when dealing with our interface and mixed reality passthrough.

ShapesXR had a clear focus on prototyping for VR apps, as there was a robust interaction system for buttons. Also, the live collaboration & sharing options were significant, and the video passthrough worked reliably. This mix of features put it right on top of our list.

ShapesXR provided powerful & intuitive VR tools to let our artists and designers arrange the interactive 3D elements in a mixed reality space. Not only did it let them test out the scenario quickly in a VR space, but also the collaboration feature heightened our team's ability to give feedback and work better together.

Our designer would first sketch out the scenario with basic shapes from ShapesXR to represent elements that would make up the scene. Then, after a meeting inside ShapesXR with our art team, our artists would import refined 3D elements inside the prototype scene and start placing them following the designer's mockup.

We were also able to import complex 3D models of the patient in different poses and visualize the scale and position of the patient relative to our new menus and the mixed-reality environment.

Through ShapesXR, we were able to go from our initial menu interface into our revamped and content-dense new menu. The prototyping and feedback of the new immersive menu was all done inside ShapesXR and our client shared great feedback highlighting how the new user experience is still accessible while including many more options than before.

We were impressed by how easy it was to integrate ShapesXR into our current workflow.

The collaboration component works great for our remote development team and being able to design with video passthrough active is exactly what we needed for our product.

ShapesXR has become our go-to tool for our design phase and UI development. For the dozens of scenarios that we'll be working on in our development roadmap, ShapesXR will remain a key component in our workflow.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LP_3Lh_I04

Case Study: TreeviewTreeview faced front-end implementation challenges while working on projects for the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3. They adopted ShapesXR to streamline their workflow, reducing implementation cycles from 5-10 to just 2 iterations. ShapesXR bridged the gap between 2D design representations and actual spatial interfaces, improving precision and collaboration.

Treeview has started developing software for the Apple Vision Pro and faced unique development challenges in the front-end implementation process for this platform.

When developing Inviewer, a Spatial STEM Simulation library, the team set out to explore an improved workflow to minimize iterations and reduce time in the front-end implementation of spatial user interfaces for the latest AR/VR technologies, including the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3."ShapesXR has enabled our team to drastically reduce the time for front-end implementations of Spatial User Interfaces for the latest generation of XR devices, including the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3."- Horacio Torrendell, Founder & CEO of Treeview

We were having trouble with the amount of iterations needed to get the sizing, positions, and rotations of the UI to feel correct in AVP due to the slow build cycles of UnityXcodeAVP. We used ShapesXR to enable the design team to define the exact spatial layout, which was then used as the source of truth for the engineering team to implement in Unity.

We use Figma as our UI design tool, but there is a large gap in communication between a 2D representation of a spatial interface and the actual spatial interface. We discovered that ShapesXR bridges this communication gap.

We used ShapesXR to design the exact spatial layout we wanted for the Mixed Reality app. We executed design reviews with all stakeholders in ShapesXR to reach agreement on the final design. Once agreed upon, this design was used as the source of truth for the front-end implementation on the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3.

ShapesXR allowed us to drastically reduce the time of implementation by reducing the amount of front-end implementation cycles. Before using ShapesXR, a front-end implementation could take around 5-10 iterations, requiring the design team to collaborate with development to really nail a high-quality interface implementation. Now with ShapesXR, we've reduced the iterations to around only 2: a first implementation that exactly aligns to the ShapesXR source of truth and a final polish round which completes the front-end implementation.

Previously, we would use Figma as our source of truth for the user interface, which has many gaps in information regarding sizing, distance, and rotation of objects relative to the user's starting position. Now with ShapesXR, our team can define a source of truth that aligns exactly with the expected outcome of the front-end implementation.

We started with a self-onboarding process for ShapesXR, through which we discovered the power of this tool. We then had a team onboarding session with one of the ShapesXR team members, which was invaluable for providing an in-depth presentation and offering our team a chance to ask questions and explore how we could fully leverage the tool.

One feature we found particularly useful was the layer feature, which enables us to simulate UI logic flow and even define UI animations. This is advantageous because it allows us to add more layers of detail during the design phase, ensuring all details are defined before starting front-end implementation.

Our plan is to start integrating ShapesXR into the design process of the AR/VR software that we build at Treeview. Being a development studio that works with many clients and many projects, we have various design processes for new AR/VR applications. Our plan is to integrate ShapesXR into our workflow, moving from Figma to ShapesXR, then to Unity, and finally to devices such as the Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest, MagicLeap, and Microsoft Hololens.

We feel that ShapesXR is becoming the primary design tool for XR development. This tool should be used in all XR development teams. For us, the key benefit is that it allows the design team to cover a more extensive range of design details that are specific to spatial user interfaces. This leaves fewer design decision gaps for the engineering team to fill during the front-end software implementation.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jivMEBTqdWM

Case Study: LogitechLogitech designed the digital twin of a real world event entirely in VR using ShapesXR. The team was able to invite stakeholders and decision makers in VR during the process to evaluate the design spatially and greenlight the whole event that happened in Berlin in August 2022.[gallery size="full" link="file" ids="28297,28296,28295"]

We were tasked with designing the digital twin for the premiere of a real-world event centered around gaming in just 3 weeks. This concept had to be used to provide a clear understanding to our partners and potential sponsors of the final outcome as well as being used as a base for costing the setup of the physical venue. We started by creating some mood-boards to solidify the general look and feel of the space and created some 2D sketches to have an initial idea of the general layout and key points of interests. Right after we jumped in ShapesXR and leveraged the powerful creative tool set and the ability to import 3D models and images in a virtual environment. Thanks to the powerful and versatile snapping and alignment systems the assets could be easily assembled into complex scenes and we could create different layouts based on various sponsor options. Throughout the process we conducted several design reviews with stakeholders in VR to evaluate the whole design spatially. We were also able to directly export the project directly into Unity to create images with a higher visual fidelity that could be part of our deliverables."ShapesXR allows us to quickly create fully immersive scenes and populate these with key artefacts, something that traditionally has not been possible for those without the time and budget to build costly physical environments, mock ups or experience labs."- Andreas Connelan, Head of Design AR/VR

Using ShapesXR as a collaborative VR creation tool, it allowed us to bridge the gaps between existing design and software workflows. All stakeholders could spatially communicate, design and iterate together in real-time using one shared tool. XR democratises 3D creation for all.

Stakeholders working side by side in the same project space as though in the same physical space promoted discussion, and allowed the spontaneity and richness of normal human interaction to occur between distributed teams. We could involve stakeholders much earlier in the concept and design processes, and get early buy-in.

Using VR, we could reduce iteration cycles by reducing ambiguity between design and production phases. Despite the extremely tight deadlines, we could produce venues explorable in VR at 1:1 scale, shareable 2D assets, and a project space detailing full project history, in one fell swoop.

Ultimately the digital twin and produced assets were presented to the decision makers helping them them to have a clear understanding of the whole event and greenlight the proposal.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u40eVqwnfm4 About Logitech

Logitech is a global leader in personal peripherals for PC navigation, video communication, collaboration, music and smart homes. Over the past years Logitech has successfully launched peripherals on the market for VR input as well as expanded the functionalities of their existing devices to be compatible with virtual reality headsets. Logitech is going to intensify this effort and explore new opportunities for their line of products and end-to-end solutions for their customers. This requires to rethink the design and ideation process and find more effective ways to communicate and iterate rapidly on spatial ideas and concepts, to help the organization prioritize and accelerate the early design process.