New apps for Virtual Reality content now available for Oculus, HTC Vive, Gear VR and Google Cardboard; WebVR support allows users to explore all Sketchfab models in VR.
NEW YORK & PARIS -- Sketchfab has announced the release of their new apps for virtual reality. These apps, available for available for Oculus, HTC Vive, Gear VR and Cardboard, provide a dedicated Virtual Reality experience and make Sketchfab available on more headsets. The apps are a curated showcase of models, and already a great illustration of what Sketchfab + VR means.
Also announced by Sketchfab is that with their WebVR support, users can now explore ALL Sketchfab models in VR, not only with Cardboard, but with any VR headset. This includes positional tracking on all platforms that support it (Oculus and Vive). It’s just a click away from any model, press the VR button to get started. Users can now browse their own models in VR. No need to go through game engines anymore, just upload to Sketchfab as usual and your work will be VR-ready in a matter of seconds. WebVR support and Sketchfab creates a seamless way to publish VR content.
This is an important milestone for Sketchfab. Their users have been sharing amazing 3D creations on Sketchfab for the past 4 years, and VR offers the most natural and greatest way to experience those. It is also a big milestone for the Virtual Reality ecosystem. VR content today is mostly about games, and most of it is studio made. But the bulk of VR content will be user generated, most of it is 360 videos, but this is not what VR was built for.
VR needs a volumetric format, and that’s what Sketchfab content is about: a scene you can walk into and navigate with 6 degrees of freedom. Sketchfab is the largest community of 3D creators, and with more than 750k 3D files published to date, their VR support make them the largest library of user generated VR content.
Sketchfab VR does not offer a wild gaming experience designed to shoot monsters and think about how to survive. It’s much more of a contemplative experience: the user is there to explore the world around them. It’s about places, things, objects, people. It’s about discovery. It’s about learning. Ever dreamed of teleporting yourself to Rome, inspecting a beating heart, or walking along dinosaurs? All of these things can be done in Sketchfab VR.
Source: Sketchfab
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
