Medium, the Oculus virtual sculpture workshop
Oculus reveals Medium, an application that allows you to sculpt in virtual reality, during the Oculus Connect conference, from the 23rd to the 25th of September in Hollywood.
“Every new platform needs its drawing software, Medium will be our Paint”, declared Brendan Iribe, president of the start-up that designed the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift, during Oculus Connect, the annual conference for developers that ended a few days ago in California.
The 3D modelling software 3D Medium was developed to function with Oculus Touch, the controllers simulating hand actions that will be available…in 2016, following the launch of the general public version of the Oculus Rift. A substantial number of people were nevertheless able to test Medium during the conference. A dedicated Twitter account posted photos of the different achievements.
A designer worked on “Lord of the Rings”:
No miracle without a creative mind:
Medium, the presentation video:
Respond to Tilt Brush, the app that passed over to the enemy
With its virtual modelling clay, Medium seems to have drawn inspiration from VRCLAY, the Czech designers of which are nowhere to be seen. But it is mainly a response to Tilt Brush, a drawing software in immersion, not yet distributed, but purchased by Google last April. While Tilt Brush seemed intended for Oculus Rift, surprise, it was part of the demos of its competitor, the HTC Vive. This headset offered a solution to simulate hands before Oculus, thus the punishment.
But whereas Tilt Brush offers a Photoshop type set of tools, in Medium, no visible menu. Imitating real sculpture, both hands of the creator are involved–one that spreads and works on the virtual clay while the other manipulates the creation. The options are managed with buttons on the controller. Another feature to remember, the possibility of adding a co-creator in the workspace–one would only see his/her hands.
“For roughly 1,500 euros, you will be able equip yourself with a virtual reality headset, a pair of controllers and take classes of an artist”.
Ian Hamilton, journalist at UploadVR, on his blog
A “fortress of solitude” conducive to creativity
According to one of the testers we contacted (and who prefers to remain anonymous), Oculus focused on the atmosphere of the virtual workspace: natural light that you can reposition to take snapshots for example, with “the strange feeling that your own eyes are the device”, and even ambient sound that reminds you of the wind, simulating “timeless space”.
Oculus reverses the criticisms on the isolation caused by virtual reality by creating an artist’s workshop free from distraction. A “fortress of solitude” referred to by Lydia Choy, artistic and technical manager at Oculus. The software starkness undercuts the complexity of standard work stations in favour, maybe, of spontaneity.