While we’ve looked at both TiltBrush and Gravity Sketch, there’s another contender on the block. While we wait to get our Oculus rig setup working properly (Ed: and mumble about DisplayPort adapters again), we thought we’d give you a little preview as it looks like it might hold some potential for design conceptualisation.
The Oculus Tough controllers. They’re essential to Medium’s workfl ow and it comes free with your purchase
Oculus Medium looks to be a clay like sculpting tool — which aren’t particularly new, there’s been a lot of them over the years that have occasionally crept into the design and engineering realm: ZBrush, SensAble, now 3D Systems haptically controlled Freeform and Autodesk’s Mudbox come to mind.
What Medium, from Oculus themselves, does is take advantage of the Oculus’ Touch handheld controllers — in fact, a download of the application comes with the controllers.
While we’ll reserve any commentary on the functionality in the system, it does look like it holds some promise. You look to use the Touch controllers to interact with clay like forms, using a number of tools. Material creation, removal, smoothing, with a variety of brushes and forms.
With OBJ import and a wealth of 3D sculpting tools, Medium looks like it’s a good contender for design experimentation
For a consumer focussed application, it looks like it’s well thought out and incorporates a number of features that will make it useful for conceptualisation using clay modelling tools. For example, it’s possible to import geometry files (again, as OBJ format) from your desktop machine (though I’m guessing performance might take a hit if you push too much geometry its way).
There are also some more advanced features, such as symmetry, layers, the ability to copy and paste (or duplicate) chunks of geometry and adaptable/editable lighting and much more.
It seems to be a fascinating bit of kit, once again, priced at a consumer level, for a whopping 22 quid — all of which makes it all the more interesting.
This article is part of a DEVELOP3D Special Report into Virtual Reality (VR) for design, engineering and manufacturing, which takes an in-depth look at the latest developments in software and hardware and what you need to get up and running.
Everything is for a reason How McLaren Automotive unleashes VR to create faster cars with more attention to detail
Quick guide: VR enabled applications A list of what’s out there now or coming soon
Virtual Reality challenges & future Six industry thought leader’s views on the future of VR
HTC Vive: Getting up and running Our experience of working with HTC Vive and how to avoid common mistakes
Workstations & GPUs for VR A back to basics guide to buying hardware for Virtual Reality
The future of immersive engineering Virtual Reality (VR) is the current hot topic, but Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) is on its way. We take a look at where things are heading
Game on Amalgam creates game controllers for Holovis
VRED Pro 2017 & VR The latest release adds greater support for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift tools
Virtalis VR4CAD Offering expertise in VR at a much more affordable level
ESI Group IC.IDO 11 ESI’s IC.ID0 is one of the most advanced Digital Mock Up tools available. With its addition of Vive support, we take a look at what the system is capable of and how it can benefit engineering
Gravity Sketch Beta An interesting take on Modelling in Virtual Reality
Google Tiltbrush A system for VR creativity that’s both cheap and capable
Amari Magnetar V25 This stylish workstation has been specifically designed for VR. But despite its slimsline chassis, you can still cram in incredible processing power
Nvidia Quadro P2000/P4000 Nvidia is changing the landscape of professional 3D graphics with a new family of Pascal Quadro GPUs, including a single slot ‘VR Ready’ card.
To read all the articles, as they appeared in DEVELOP3D Magazine, you can download the March Edition here.
| Product | Medium |
|---|---|
| Company name | Oculus |
| Price | Free with Oculus Touch or $22.00 |
