In VR, the potential to uncover design clashes and clearances is unparalleled. What makes for successful VR outcomes is seamless bi-directional data exchange within a common data environment. Cloud-connected data flow ensures transparency and precision, facilitating live updates from any source you’re working in. Every change becomes visible to all stakeholders in real-time, establishing a single source of truth.

Traditionally, VR lacks a smooth, two-way data solution. It often relies on manual plugins, like those for Revit and Navisworks, connecting to other VR collaboration software. Each revision demands time-consuming updates, full data translation, and version control.

Now Autodesk Workshop XR offers an answer to the synced data challenge. With a live connection to Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), any changes or updates become instantly accessible, whether you’re in VR or viewing on desktop. This ensures that the data viewed in Workshop XR is always up-to-date and accurate.

Take for instance, while navigating a large, federated model in VR, you may often notice spatial errors that you didn’t notice previously on a 2D screen. With Workshop XR, you’re able to easily create an issue by simply pointing and clicking, or sending a voice-to-text command. Once you publish this issue, the data flows seamlessly back to ACC. Changes, action items, and location details are synced in real time, creating a streamlined workflow that brings issue visibility to all project stakeholders

“The direct connection to Autodesk Construction Cloud is great,” says Reeti Gupta, director of practice technology, HKS. “We can see progress and changes immediately. When I first tried Workshop XR, I started creating issues and assigning members. The speech-to-text is also very good, so you don’t have to type.”

Using Autodesk Workshop XR and ACC together

It’s important to note that Workshop XR is not directly part of ACC. Workshop XR provides breakthrough new capabilities for AEC teams to review 3D models and their data from Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), through Autodesk Docs, in an immersive workspace, together in real-time, via desktop or virtual reality.

This new workspace is intended to help users immersively align and validate their existing models from ACC before construction even begins. With automatic data connectivity and synced issue tracking, teams can experience a centralized source of truth in ACC to gain a spatial understanding of their project data.

A new console in Workshop XR provides an interactive portal that connects ACC project data in VR. This centralized console allows users to easily share and reference Revit and Navisworks models. If there are known issues in ACC, you can quickly travel to key areas for review. This one-stop access point simplifies the management of project files, making the design review process more efficient and user-friendly.

This image shows the console in action, demonstrating how it provides a seamless interface for accessing and managing project data in VR.

Visibility is also enhanced with the ability to manually control layer and component views to focus on key sections of a building. This is particularly helpful to see contextually how overlapping areas interact, such as HVAC systems behind walls. Everything is automatically tied into the t structure set up in ACC.

Benefits of data syncing

The ability to inspect Building Information Modeling (BIM) properties within an immersive environment offers a significant enhancement to the design review process. In this immersive setting, stakeholders can interact with connected BIM data in real-time using VR technology. They can point and click to query specific elements of the design, creating an interactive and dynamic experience, always live from ACC. When multiple stakeholders come together for a federated walkthrough, exploring the design, they often uncover valuable insights that might have been missed in their individual, sectioned 3D screen models.

The collaborative and intuitive approach to data exploration in VR not only streamlines the review process but also leads to a more comprehensive understanding of the design, making it a valuable tool for design and construction projects.

With BIM, coordination and collaboration is so successful because of real-time updates from anyone, anywhere. Workshop XR now delivers this same benefit with seamless access to files, teams, issues, and changes- all in an immersive 1:1 scale environment where connected project data can be visualized and interacted with in a more intuitive and engaging way.

ACC and Workshop XR maintain up-to-date connectivity with automatic version control. Updates from Revit, Navisworks, and VR-tracked issues are continuously synced with ACC, ensuring that all project stakeholders are working with the most up-to-date information, preventing errors and miscommunication.

Getting started with Autodesk Workshop XR

It’s easy to get started with connected design reviews with Workshop XR and ACC. Simply sign into an existing ACC account, pair your device using a PIN code, and instantly gain access to your central project data environment for immersive shared design reviews.

These can later be accessed from desktop or VR, bringing greater visibility to the entire project team. Start a free trial of Workshop XR to start collaborating in VR and ensure your data is connected back to a single source of truth.