Virtual Dimension Center

The network

The Virtual Dimension Center (VDC) was founded in 2002 as a competence centre and innovation network for Virtual Engineering technologies, based in the city of Fellbach in the middle of the Stuttgart region. It brings together the expertise of leading researchers, developers, suppliers and end-users of 3D visualisation, simulation, and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies.

Main activities

As a central contact point for advice and technology transfer, the VDC primarily offers a communications platform in the field of Virtual Engineering technologies. For this purpose, the VDC also provides and runs a demonstration centre, in which the various hardware and software products of its members (complete VR systems, for example) are made available for demonstration purposes, for technology transfer and for hire for individual projects.
Apart from the knowledge and information exchange between the members, cooperation partnerships between different organisations are initiated, and special emphasis is placed on making Virtual Engineering technologies available to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The technological focus

The specific competencies of the VDC lie in networking a large number of companies which offer or apply VR and digital product development technologies (design, calculation, simulation, and technical 3D visualisation). Science and research are very well integrated in the VDC network through the participation of excellent universities and Fraunhofer Institutes. The same applies for the field of education and training.

Highlights

Knowledge Base: Business Location Presentation with Virtual Reality

The Knowledge Base is a mobile, immersive and virtual walk-through world which enables users to experience the "soft" factors of a region while, at the same time, demonstrating its technological know-how and competence.

3D Fitness Check

The benefits of today's numerical simulation and visualisation techniques in the three-dimensional environment and the benefit of VR, with the possibility it provides of interacting with it, are undisputed. However, many companies are still working with 2D CAD systems or their products are only partially compatible with the 3D system they use. The "3D fitness check" offers help in making the transition to the new technologies.

CoSpaces: Innovative Collaborative Work Environments for Individuals and Teams in Design and Engineering

The EU project "CoSpaces" evaluates collaboration at individual, team and enterprise levels, and develops collaboration models emphasising applications of problem solving, creativity, participatory and knowledge-based design in innovative collaborative work environments. The objective is to create an innovative distributed software framework that will support easy creation of collaborative work environments for distributed knowledge workers and teams in collaborative design and engineering tasks.