
Google VR Blocks: A Free 3D Modeling Tool for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift - antichaos
https://vr.google.com/blocks/
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thenomad
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.

~~~
stephengillie
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.

~~~
pmoriarty
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.

~~~
stephengillie
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.

~~~
T-A
> 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...](https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/research/publication/holographic-near-eye-displays-virtual-augmented-
reality/#)

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secure
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 :)

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mmcclellan
Coverage:

Verge: [https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/6/15929312/google-blocks-
vr-...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/6/15929312/google-blocks-vr-modeling-
app-oculus-rift-htc-vive)

Wired: [https://www.wired.com/story/google-blocks-
vr/](https://www.wired.com/story/google-blocks-vr/)

Engadget: [https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/06/google-blocks-
virtual-3d...](https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/06/google-blocks-
virtual-3d-object-drawing-app-htc-vive-oculus/)

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whywhywhywhy
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.

~~~
Impossible
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.

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

Got any links?

~~~
clebio
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/](http://store.steampowered.com/app/479010/Kodon/)

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BatFastard
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 ...

~~~
meheleventyone
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.

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

~~~
meheleventyone
Not from what I can see.

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BinaryIdiot
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.

~~~
avaer
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.

~~~
Stanleyc23
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?

~~~
avaer
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.

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

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mintplant
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.

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iso-8859-1
Imagine coupling this with a structural code editor like Lamdu:
[https://github.com/lamdu/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.

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Fifer82
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.

~~~
andybak
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.

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suyash
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.

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mkw5053
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?

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snakeanus
How does it compare with things like Blender?

~~~
makx
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](https://www.marui-plugin.com)

~~~
thenomad
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](https://blendervr.limsi.fr/doku.php)

