Sudhanshu Basu Roy
UIN: 660847050
Masters in CS

CS 428   Virtual and Augmented Reality

Student's Choice - SculptrVR

Introduction

SculptrVR is an open-world, cloud-based VR game that allows users to create 3D models and explore virtual worlds created by them and other users. The modeling is achieved via a combination of hand gestures and controller inputs. Available on multiple platforms like Steam, Windows, PlayStation and the Meta Quest, it allows users to sculpt in a VR world at a massive range of scale. It allows users to zoom in up to 10,000x, letting them make from the tiniest sculptures to Godzilla-sized stuff. It was developed using Unreal Engine, and is a voxel-based modeling system.

A Quick Look At The App

Why Is It Good For VR

The biggest advantage to having an app like this, is that it gets users comfortable with interaction mechanisms in VR systems. VR is a still a very new technology and each system has its own interaction methods, so there isn't much to allow users to get used to how they work. SculptrVR employs both hands (or controllers) abundantly to execute a whole array of commands. A large combination of varying gestures and button presses makes it one of the better environments to get comfortable interacting with VR systems.

Who Is It For

SculptrVR makes for a great VR app, letting its users go wild with their imagination creating new worlds. Think minecraft, but with even more freedom. Beginner sculptors can use this infinite canvas to play around and experiment before designing more serious stuff, all while having the roadblocks and constraints of the physical world removed. They're mostly only limited by their imagination. In the real world, they would have to get materials and learn how to work with them, while also being constrained by their budget for materials and space limitations. Being given a virtually infinite canvas with no material shortage to worry about while also being able to undo mistakes and work on any level of precision (and also not having to deal with gravity) lets artists' skill go up by leaps and bounds.

Artists can make epic or miniature sculptures

Of course, budding and professional artists are not the only people the devs wanted to make the app for. At the end of the day, it is still a cloud-based game for people to mess around in. It is cross platform, so it allows for a lot more freedom when it comes to multiplayer. Whether you own a Meta Quest or Playstation VR, anyone can hop and have hours of fun making rockets and letting them fly. Anyone that is into 3D modeling can also hop onto SculptrVR, make a random model and then export it in FBX and OBJ formats and continue modeling in an external software like Blender.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The overall reviews for SculptrVR on Steam are very positive. The specifics are broken down as follows

Pros
  • Most users really like the flexibility of scale they can work with. Most assumed it was an exaggeration but were pleasantly surprised that the game lived up to its claims
  • Comes with a large number of simple tools to quickly generate low-fidelity models while also maintaining flexibility
  • The precision isn't in adjusting the tools themselves but in the level of zooming in or out and making changes to the voxels as needed
  • It allows multiplayer gaming, to have a shared immersive experience, while also allowing solo play when desired
  • The latest update improves the controls greatly, making them more intuitive while also offering an in-game tutorial to learn on the go
  • Allows exporting sculpted models in FBX and OBJ to continue working on them in external 3D software
Cons
  • Unlike its counterpart, Oculus Medium, it lacks high-fidelity 3D modeling features. The emphasis is more on scale than on fidelity
  • Users complained about the controls of the application being designed with the HTC Vive in mind, and thus having bad control mapping on other devices such as the HP Reverb 2
  • Not free to play. Costs a one-time $20 fee across all platform stores to own

References