Crédits photos : MeshroomVR / WEVIZ
The boom of remote work has given rise to a lot of ambitions among companies specialising in immersive technologies. The Bordeaux company MeshroomVR, born in 2016, has understood the new needs of companies and employees. It has thus developed its 3D visualization software into a collaboration tool. Aymeric Le Quinio, Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer, presents the new ambitions of the MeshroomVR solution.
Can you introduce MeshroomVR, now WEVIZ, in a few words? What solution do you propose?
At MeshroomVR, however, the most important thing is not the technology we offer but rather the ability to understand our clients’ problems; to see how we can help them. Moreover, we consult them regularly, which helps us to define our roadmap in terms of future developments.
MeshroomVR is a 3D collaborative visualization and validation software for industry professionals. It allows you to visualise and comment on 3D projects without being a CAD expert.
In addition to visualising projects in 3D, our partners use MeshroomVR in virtual reality to take advantage of the 1:1 scale. This saves prototyping and time. Production costs and times are reduced by 30%. The other advantage of virtual reality is that you can immerse yourself with several people at the same time, and thus work directly with all your colleagues, suppliers, factories and even customers. You can present projects to clients very easily, and it’s easier for them to visualise and get a concrete idea.
Has the health crisis pushed you to go further in your ambitions for transformation? Have you identified new customer needs?
We had already launched a multi-user mode before the COVID-19 crisis. Indeed, confinement has pushed major manufacturers to find innovative solutions for working from home. Like many people, we noticed that remote and collaborative work was going to become more and more important. The crisis is a huge catalyst for us. MeshroomVR is a tool at the heart of this transition: it allows all the stakeholders in a 3D project to make informed decisions and validate whatever the location.
In recent years, the world has been undergoing major changes: environmental issues are finally being taken seriously, and the search for quality of life for employees is essential. MeshroomVR avoids unnecessary transport of goods and prototypes, as well as costly travel.
You are taking a turn in 2020 by changing your name and transforming your offer. Can you tell us more about your new identity and ambitions?
MeshroomVR has often been perceived as a VR visualisation tool. (Who could you blame with such a name?). But our customers have understood this: it is not only a question of visualising in VR but also of organising collaborative meetings to validate 3D projects. We have therefore reoriented our communication in order to better express our DNA.
The first proof of this change will be to allow our users to import their 3D objects directly from their CAD software (Catia, Solidworks, PCT Créo, etc). Then new versions will arrive very soon, allowing project contributors, in 3D or VR, to graphically materialise their returns. We strongly believe in this collaborative approach.
We have also changed our name to WEVIZ. “We” refers to collaboration, and “Viz” is the contraction of “visualising”.This name change is accompanied by a global redesign of the application and of the UI/UX, to the improvement of the collaborative functionalities.
Which sectors and professions may be interested in your solutions?
MeshroomVR is aimed at all industrial sectors that design or manufacture products and need collaborative solutions to validate their products. We work with companies of all sizes, industrial sites specialising in energy for example, such as Schneider Electric, but also retail groups such as L’Oréal or in the medical sector with Wright; also with design agencies, engineering consultants or design offices. All companies that manufacture a product can use MeshroomVR and have access to collaborative software and photo-realistic/real-time rendering.
WEVIZ has become part of our design process. The quick handling and the visualisation of our projects on a 1:1 scale allows us on the one hand to touch reality with our fingers, but on the other hand to make quicker decisions with our teams and our customers. Today, all of our projects are handled with this great tool, and we will continue to do so tomorrow!
Benoît Serieyssol, Designer and Associate Director at Félix et Associés
How do your clients use your solutions?
To sum up, there are 3 main uses of MeshroomVR for companies: collaborative design review, industrial production and sales. According to our customers, the stakes inherent to a 3D and VR software such as MeshroomVR, are productivity, search for design errors, remote collaboration, 4.0 digitalisation of factories and winning new markets.
What is also important to remember is that we are not just a community software. Sharing 3D files is not as simple as sharing a screen on an online chat software. We wanted to participate in the changes that the world of work has recently experienced, while at the same time providing a solution that makes it possible to show realistic 3D models, on a 1:1 scale but always in a simple way, to make it accessible to everyone.
What are the next ambitions for WEVIZ (in the next few months, years…)?
CAD software on the market is often complex and expensive. At MeshroomVR, we have chosen to rationalise the number of functionalities to easily get to the essential: visualising and validating a 3D model. This reflects our mission, which is to democratise the use of 3D, to make it accessible beyond design offices. Today, there is no software that is used in an extremely simple way. If we want to sum up WEVIZ, it is a software that offers professional 3D rendering, with a “general public” interface.
