“Jarvis, explode that view.” We’ve all seen Tony Stark toy with AR models of his Iron Man suits or inverted mobius strips, and we’ve all wanted to copy him. With Caddy, a new CAD app for Meta Quest headsets, we can now actually toy around with 3D models of whatever we want.
Developed by Meta for the still in-development AR glasses project, Caddy comes with a full model of the Meta Quest 3 headset. Modelled down to its smallest components, you can explode the headset and manipulate every part of the digital model.
Caddy not only lets you pick up and play with each individual piece of the 3D model, but also perform additional actions. For example, you can use a measuring tool to get accurate measurements of panels, screws and more. Furthermore, there’s an annotation tool that you can use to keep virtual notes in your mixed reality space.
The Meta Quest CAD app can be used in a form of multiplayer for collaboration. If you’re all connected to the same network, you can all engage with the same CAD model in the same virtual space with notes, measurements and everything else carrying over.
This form of scientific collaboration is what augmented reality has been pushed for outside of casual gaming. Microsoft’s HoloLens tech, which is now used by the US military, has been used in this very way by companies such as Boeing.
While Meta’s Caddy tool is still in its early stages, it could become an essential tool for designers looking to improve upon their inventions in a virtual space. After all, who doesn’t want to feel like a real-life Tony Stark?
Caddy is available to download right now via the Meta App Lab. The tool is available for both Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3 headsets, although it’s clearly better on the latter.