Google VR Blocks: A Free 3D Modeling Tool for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift | Hacker News Reader

Google VR Blocks: A Free 3D Modeling Tool for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift

vr.google.com

275 pointsantichaos46 comments

I've been testing this tool this afternoon.

It's surprisingly powerful. The scale-shifting means it's very easy to work on something at toy soldier scale, and then shift it to be an epic hall or similar. And being able to immediately visualise the space you've created in VR, without having to work on a 2D screen then throw a headset on, is a major improvement on current VR authoring.

(I'm the developer of Left-Hand Path, a VR RPG that's been in production for a year or so, and so have authored rather a lot of VR content.)

Blocks is obviously not trying to be a pro modeling tool, but it might still end up being useful for some professional applications. And it certainly shows just how powerful a pro modeling tool in VR could be.

Having developers spend more time "in-helmet" will help them make more compelling VR experiences. It's obvious from the state of experiences that most devs aren't spending all day in VR, the way someone might spend all day in League or WoW or EvE. Hopefully this will fix that.

I'm excited to get home and try this.

The problem with spending a lot of time in VR is that the current generation of VR headsets get incredibly uncomfortable before too long. Developers generally get paid for their efforts, so maybe they'll put up with the discomfort, but I certainly wouldn't want to spend that much time in VR if I could help it.. not before the headsets get a lot more comfortable.

This. I've spent the last year developing a VR game and making a lot of content and I cannot envision spending even more time in the headset. Double the resolution and give me eye tracking (so my eyes don't wear out from being forced to stare straight ahead) and I will happily change my opinion.

How minimal could the hardware be, while still making a compelling experience? Even top wireless gaming headsets are still bulky, in this age of miniturization of electronics. (And I prefer my bulky Corsair headset with my Vive more than their earbuds.)

Can a device similar to Google Glass hold enough compute and storage to create a compelling VR experience?

It's the least we could do, if we're not going to return to the Moon in our generation.

> Can a device similar to Google Glass hold enough compute and storage to create a compelling VR experience?

Not currently, but I'd be happy enough with a wireless link to a PC driving something like this: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/hologra...

People say this and I always feel like the odd one out; I have the first Rift, cheap phone holders and the ps4 vr and I do not find it uncomfortable at all. I have no issues spending days in any of them. Maybe I am just quickly wow'd by simple things... Sure smaller and lighter and no cables would be better but I forget all that after 10 minutes.

I used this tool to create a 3D model of a rack deployment. It was quite intuitive and I finished my model in an hour or so, which was way less than using traditional tools like sketchup (I tried before and gave up frustrated).

3D modeling really is an area where VR is just way more pleasant to use than any other option, at least for beginners :)

Coverage:

Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/6/15929312/google-blocks-vr-...

Wired: https://www.wired.com/story/google-blocks-vr/

Engadget: https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/06/google-blocks-virtual-3d...

Disappoints me that major creative tools for VR are mostly being pushed out by the likes of Google and FB who are extremely likely to drop the projects within the next 2 years as their objectives shift because they're not creative tools companies.

Would be much happier if some indie devs took up this space.

There are plenty of creative tools made by indie developers, including 3D modeling and sculpting tools. Most of Google's creative tools are aquihires (Tiltbrush, Soundstage) although Blocks appears to be internally developed. Some cool ones I can think of off the top of my head include SculptVR, Kodo, VRTX, Bound, Tvori and King Spray.

MMVR too, which is, iirc, basically an attempt to create a full-scale modeling tool in VR.

I failed to find anything named that other than a medical app. I eventually realised you meant "Mesh Maker VR".

Sigh. My crusade against over-use of acronyms by people who want to save themselves 2 seconds typing continues!

Sorry, my bad - I thought that was actually its formal name, as that's what I'm used to seeing it called by the person who created it.

Holey-moley - he's just open-sourced it: https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/6ltk6p/mesh_maker_vr_...

This is a really interesting move.

Thanks for the list will definitely check them out.

Think my main worry is the existence of the big players making things like this on a whim or acquiring things like this on a whim then dumping them (Let's be real here no way will google still by supporting tilt brush in 5 years) puts more indie devs off exploring this space.

Can't find Kodo and Bound seems to be a PSVR game?

Got any links?

Guessing the parent mean Kodon (which I've had bookmarked for a while -- hasn't gone on sale yet): http://store.steampowered.com/app/479010/Kodon/

Sorry, I meant Unbound, not Bound, which is a PSVR game. http://unbound.io. The reply below is correct, I meant Kodon and not Kodo.

Unfortunately indie creative tools are not a great business (with only a handful of exceptions that have found a sweet spot, like Sketch).

If you want a tool that will be around in two years, Oculus and Google are still a better bet. I wish the market for creative tools were better, but I don't see the prospects for small developers getting any better in this space.

Funnily enough I was just making a list of VR tools that allow user-generated content (excluding music). I got this far:

Sansar

Modbox

Anyland

Tvori

Diorama Worlds

StageX

Google Blocks

High Fidelity

Tilt Brush

Medium

Quill

Rodin

MakeVR

Metaverse Construction Kit

3DSunshine

Country of One

VR Home

MyDream

Shape Lab

- I'm working on a feature matrix but rest-assured several of those are mature, well-suppoted and by smaller developers.

Idea is great, dying to try it out. The cost of getting 3d content has been growing more and more cost prohibitive every year. Does it export ot a fbx or obj format?

Interesting that it is a mesh building tool with a voxel representation.

Can you do any type of scripting or animation with it? So many things needed. I want displacement maps, and collision hulls, and ...

It's not voxel based as far as I can tell, it's a regular poly mesh editor albeit with a great interface for VR. It does provide some constraints that disallow edits that result in the mesh ending up in a bad state.

Right now there aren't any tools for animation or anything else like that. Just basic object creation, extrusion and feature manipulation.

That's a good start at least. Do you know if it is open source?

Not from what I can see.

Solid questions (no pun intended)!

* FBX export? * scripting/animation? * Displacement maps, collision hulls, etc.

Would also like to know.

Should I be surprised that this doesn't work with Google's own Daydream? I would have assumed support for that before Vive and Rift. I'm assuming there are technical limitations to doing this on Daydream but is it just not doable at all on it? Is the control not precise enough or do you need two?

Edit: Okay thanks for the clarification! I guess I wouldn't be surprised if Google has it working internally on their own standalone Daydream hardware.

vive and rift are accurately positioned in space while daydream has just an approximation from the gyro and a lot less inputs. So yeah, basically just not doable on this platform and similar ones like samsung's

Performance aside, Daydream does not have 6DOF.

There's a bunch of hacks you can do around 3DOF, but the experience would be severely crippled without 3D tracked controllers.

once 6DOF technology gets more advanced and more distribution, is there any use case or niche for 3DOF where it is actually the better solution?

As far as UI goes I can see it being a keyboard to your mouse. Some UIs like menus are actually easier to design and interact with in a 3DOF plane.

But as far as hardware goes 3DOF is just a stepping stone; we only use it because it's easier to make. Once good, efficient 6DOF is available we can pull 3DOF out of it whenever we need to.

Other than cost to produce, not really and you can always ignore position or rotational tracking to drop down from six to three which will likely be the default when losing tracking from an inside out system.

Assuming rough parity in terms of simplicity and cost, no. Unlike, the limited range of B&W photography vs. color, there is no intrinsic value in having a compromised sense of space and severely limited range of motion when using immersive media.

When Google releases a 6DOF standalone or mobile Daydream they will port all of their desktop PC VR apps to mobile. We're close to this, as the standalone Daydream hardware (mobile Vive) has 6DOF inside out headtracking, even though it lacks a 6DOF controller required for all VR content creation apps. For now, mobile devices don't have the input and tracking capabilities to provide a good modeling experience.

Not if you understand the difference between a system that only tracks three degrees of freedom (i.e., rotational motion only / e.g., Daydream and GearVR), and one that tracks all six (i.e., rotational + translational / e.g., Vive and Rift).

Since 3 DoF systems are widely-viewed within the industry as being time-limited, most designers with long-range plans for their work will build for 6 DoF first and foremost, and maybe develop a 3 DoF version if the basic concept and funding stream allows.

Being a general authoring tool rather than a specific title, Google's VR Blocks fit squarely (sorry) in the Do 6 DoF First category.

1992 is here again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTjB4fCPpaM&t=6m38s

Can't wait to try this out. Better UIs for 3D modeling is at the very top of my software wishlist. Personally, I've always thought that an "art" 3D modeling tool (eg Blender) with a parametric/sketch-and-extrude modeling interface (as in CAD software like Inventor) would be an interesting direction for this.

Imagine coupling this with a structural code editor like Lamdu: https://github.com/lamdu/lamdu (but in 3D)

Then I would spend my days waving my arms around to make code instead of typing on the keyboard. It'd be great.

Why does VR on the PC always seem like vaporware? It is prohibitively expensive and that does not seem to change year on year, I don't even really think I have seen a news story or anything about VR for the last 18 months apart from Sony's crappy offering.

Meanwhile me and others are having a blast in VR day in, day out.

Funny definition of "vaporware"...

> I don't even really think I have seen a news story or anything about VR for the last 18 months apart from Sony's crappy offering.

1. Microsoft's Windows VR platform announced and launched to devs.

2. Bethesda announced 3 major AAA VR titles at E3: Fallout, Skyrim and Doom

3. Valve's innovative Knuckles controllers are in the hards of developers

4. Several new headsets announced - 3 for the new Windows VR platform, another Steam VR compatible headset from LG and some standalone headsets.

5. The Rift and Touch is now under 449 Euros

6. Apple announced SteamVR support and their own VR framework for Metal

That's just from memory.

Yesterday I was ripping robots to pieces in Robo Recall, and later took a supercar for a spin around Spa in Assetto Corsa. Both using my Oculus Rift. I must have bene dreaming since this is supposedly just vapour?

3D modelling is no easy play. I bet this tool is just a fun to use app but can't be utilized for serious work as navigating in VR with controllers in a heavy headset is extremely tiring. It's done in 2D screens because that is way more effective way as of now.

Wow, I can't wait to get home to try this out on my Vive! Does anyone know what tools (like possibly Unity) were used to make this?

How does it compare with things like Blender?

It's much more simple than professional modeling tools. You can make some simple objects, but you don't have the tools required for more complex work. If you want something something like Blender in VR, your best option is to actually get a VR user interface for whatever software you're using, like MARUI [1] is for Maya.

[1] https://www.marui-plugin.com

There's actually a Blender addition that allows you to use it in VR. Haven't tried it, so don't know how good it is, but:

https://blendervr.limsi.fr/doku.php

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