The Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg is the world’s leading event for airlines and their supply chain to source the latest innovations, technologies and products for the cabin interiors, inflight entertainment (IFE) and passenger comfort industries. For AIX 2016 we set out to showcase Neutral Digital’s unique VR capabilities, alongside our IFE apps.

With its roots in visualisation for the world’s biggest architects, including Zaha Hadid, Herzog de Meuron and OMA, Neutral Digital was given early access to the latest VR hardware. We focused our efforts on creating VR experiences with visual quality on par with the high standards expected by architects.

Our avionics demo focused on two areas: visualise a scaled model of the Airbus A350 jet to explore its technical data and teleport users inside a customisable cabin interior.

Leveraging the unique room scale tracking capabilities of the HTC Vive, we wanted to create a fun experience with intuitive interactivity and a high degree of photorealism all in a fully dynamic environment.

On the first level, users could peel back layers of an A350 jet revealing behind-the-scenes technologies, like the groundbreaking fuselage and support structure, as well as the advanced engines and reinvented wing technology. They could also walk around the scaled aircraft and freely explore a highly detailed model.

For the immersive 3D experience our goal was to transport users into a first class cabin and giving them the opportunity to customise the interior. They could easily change colors, materials and finishes of almost all the elements of the cabin, including the mood lighting. We added an element of surprise to the experience by allowing users to sit in the real world as if they were in a first class pod, delivering a much higher level of presence.

The experience was assembled in Unreal Engine 13. It ran from a laptop equipped with a single NVIDIA 980 video card. Extra care went into optimising every 3D asset for real-time and striking the right balance between level of detail and performance. We felt it was important to also keep the hardware setup as simple as possible and demonstrate a turnkey high-end VR solution that can easily travel within a single pelican case.

The avionics industry has always been early adopters and at the forefront of new technologies. Although most visitors had some prior VR experience, few had seen such visual quality and comfort. The emphasis on technical data and customisation visualisation resonated with every user, sparking countless ideas around how this technology will integrate into their business. Most users did not realise how mature modern Virtual Reality platforms were or that that level experience was even possible. Neutral Digital was able to demonstrate that it wasn’t “if” but very much a “when” and how fast VR will become an indispensable tool in the avionics focused enterprise.