TiltBrush by Google

[chiaro]

I studied architecture. I can't wait to get my hands on this, it feels very much like the killer app for that niche. What separates the students from the men and women who have developed their "vision" is the ability to go back and forth between how you imagine a space will feel to walk through and the lines on the paper. This shortcuts that completely.

With some snap to line and plane functions, mirroring, copy-paste etc this would be pretty usable for rapid prototypes. Imagine importing the blueprint for a cathedral, drawing a few lines in 3D space to define its verticality then blowing it up to its true scale so you're standing in the pews.

[davidiach]

You just made me imagine how it would be to play a Sim City type of game in VR. I could create a city and then walk in it or drive through it or fly over it. So many different possibilities. I can't wait.

[emehrkay]

I've been struggling to "get excited" about VR, but I think this thread (including the roller coaster/sim city comment) puts it into a bit more perspective. I think the initial tech requirements are putting me off, I don't want that headset on my desk or even on my head. I'm getting old, feeling bad about that. Ironically I am excited about AR. The MS HaloLens demos were amazing

[creeble]

This is exactly the reason I used to quote when asked "why VR?" back in 1989 when I headed the VR project at Autodesk.

Maybe that day is finally coming.

[visceralObjects]

It still feels better to mix and apply real paint to a physical surface with an actual brush held in one's hand. More time spent lashed to an electronic apparatus feels less like relaxation these days.

[verst]

I experienced TiltBrush over the weekend with the HTC Vive / SteamVR set at a friend's house. It was an amazing experience.

By far the best VR experience I had to date (I have a DK2). The creative joy and glee you feel when painting in TiltBrush is phenomenal.

Some extremely satisfying micro experiences:

* Painting stars / sparkles above your head that sink down onto you

* Trying to draw a cube in 2D, then leaning forward and realizing that you are in a 3D world and need to draw completely differently - actually walking the cube.

[strictnein]

Ordered the HTC Vive and I think it's the "game" that I'll have my kids (age 4 and 7) experience first. They both loved some of the demos and games available on the DK1 and DK2, but I think the creative freedom this seems to encourage will be even better.

[potch]

I got a chance to try tiltbrush recently. I drew a little cottage around myself, complete with a table and couch. While I was painting the ceiling, I subconsciously stepped around my couch to avoid tripping on it. That's when VR clicked for me :)

[BattyMilk]

My first time with VR I had a similar experience playing a driving sim on a friend's DK2. When I had finished playing I stood up out of the chair, ducking to miss the door frame

[iLoch]

We've got a Vive Pre so I've had the pleasure of being able to use this a bit. It's as fun and amazing as it looks in the promo video there. I'm not an artist so I can hardly put the features to any real use, but I'm always amazed to see what people are capable of creating.

I think this is truly a new form of artistic expression - and I think it has the potential to become very popular in the future. I'm imagining having holograms on display of works done by famous modern artists... being able to walk around them and see them from different perspectives - I'd love that.

[personlurking]

> being able to walk around them and see them from different perspectives

Reminds me of something I believe I saw in an art documentary. It was said that sculptures, like Michelangelo's David, were meant to be seen at night by candlelight. Being able to do so allows for a change of perspective while walking around it, in addition to the flickering of the flame making it 'come alive'.

[carolosf]

Reminds me of Gladia's "Field colorings" in Isaac Asimov's book Naked Sun

[squidbidness]

My mind is exploding with the possibilities this presents even for existing film and animation production pipelines.

Just one example: A layout artist being able to directly sketch into being the spaces and sets they envision, then being able to storyboard and block character animations by sketching with traditional animation techniques, but directly in the camera space.

Similar kinds of programs could be a revelation for modeling, rigging, and animating characters... it had never occurred to me till seeing this how awesome VR interfaces could be for that kind of artistic work.

[wowtip]

Combine this with some kind of haptic feedback device and you will have something really cool. I just skimmed the description, so not sure if it support volumetric 3D objects, i.e. sculpting, or only painting?

[cooper12]

Not exactly the same thing but I've actually been sitting on an idea for a mobile app that was inspired by Google: Essentially, you'd be able to look through your phone camera and draw on the world on the screen. Then other people could see your geolocated creations and maybe modify them. (I also considered autodecay for dense areas) I never did figure out the physics of how the projection would work or if the accuracy of GPS made it feasible, but I thought it'd be a good way to blend our real world and allow a sort of "virtual graffiti", a form of augmented virtual reality. As with all interesting ideas though, if you wait too long, someone comes and does it and I saw something similar on HN except with stickers also. As for how Google inspired it, their photo app lets you physically rotate your phone to pan around photospheres.

TiltBrush seems more of a pure creative endeavor meant for artists or anyone just looking to mess around a virtual world. I really much like how you can walk around the creation/space. The fact that it's three dimensional actually makes it more like sculpture than painting, though I"m sure there isn't anything other than parallax errors preventing 2D drawing. The granularity of the brushes seems to be good, so it will all come down to how well the hand controllers will work together with the headset. (hopefully not requiring surgery-like stillness just to get small details right, maybe by allowing adjustable head movement sensitivity)

[t3hprogrammer]

String did "virtual graffiti" in 3d in 2011! https://vimeo.com/15935674

When I last explored this idea, "stickers" are necessary since most surfaces in real life are generic "textures", so there's no way to know which section of a wall you're looking at if you're too close to it.

[crummy]

I saw a beta of this at a recent Berlin meetup that sounds similar to what you're talking about: http://gibbl.xyz/

[nivla]

Is it similar to what hololens is trying to achieve here: [1]

[1] https://youtu.be/aThCr0PsyuA?t=1m7s

[EarlyEarl]

check out http://www.glif-it.com This sounds similair to what you described, in beta stage now.

[thenomad]

The announcement that TiltBrush will be available on the Vive's launch is what moved me from "Hmm, maybe" to "Shut up and take my money".

I just hope there's a way to export the ensuing paintings in some kind of 3D format. Self-expression in static form is all very well, but I want to take them into Maya, fire up the mocap suits, and make movies with them!

On a related note and without Google's marketing budget, there's also a guy working on early-stages animation software for VR including the Vive:

https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/489o5y/virtuanimato...

[bossmojoman]

God I would love to use this for building 3D game models, the art aesthetic would be an awesome change from either super photo realistic or flat polygonal. A sketchy/painty look like the video could really make an indie game stand out from the crowd

[kriro]

That was my thought exactly. Wouldn't it be cool to model Blender (or whatever tool you use) stuff in VR. I'm horrible at 3d modeling but something like TiltBrush could make it fun and engaging and motivate me enough to explore in new ways.

[newjersey]

A little meta comment and I apologize for bikeshedding but it seems https works fine here. Can we replace the link in the title with

https://www.tiltbrush.com/

Thank you!

[mukgupta]

I posted this link but I don't see any option to edit the URL now.

[azinman2]

This will be a landmark app, in that it looks to be one of the most flushed out stabs at vr painting. It defines a number of UI/UX components and philosophies all using direct manipulation (with what looks like an Adobe-flow), plus a number of original 3D-specific tools.

Congrats to the team at Google

[brudgers]

Recent review: http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/audiovideo/til...

[hacker42]

I think it would be more accurate if they wrote "acquired by Google" instead of just "by Google". Also, why is this not under the Alphabet umbrella given that this product has nothing to do with search?

[coldpie]

The division isn't clear, but the impression I had was more "software" vs "not software."

[justncase80]

Probably the same group running Cardboard.

[theGimp]

Well that's interesting. I haven't seen any Google product host its videos on anything other than YouTube in a very long time.

It's strange they chose to host it outside YouTube in this instance.

[mukgupta]

That's probably because Google Acquired Tiltbrush and the founders choose to keep it this way initially.

[kdkooo]

Did anyone else open this in chrome and get an error that the plugin wasn't supported?

[mmanfrin]

This + a video of people playing 'Job Simulator' have me wanting to cancel my Oculus Rift preorder and get a Vive instead.

[nmbr213]

Platform exclusives will be the bane of VR.

When I see interesting exclusives X on Vive, Y on Oculus and Z on Playstation VR, I won't buy all three platforms. I'll just say 'screw you all, I'll pass'.

[drewrv]

Having played both, I would strongly recommend you do. When I took off the vive my first thought was "no way I'm getting an oculus".

[Qworg]

I've used all of the different headsets and the Vive is the standout.

[partiallypro]

I really hope Google puts aside their differences with Microsoft and tries to get a demo of this running on Hololens. I think it would be SO much cooler to be able to walk around someone's cool 3D art piece using AR rather than VR.

[agildehaus]

Hololens has a tremendously small FOV and everything it projects is translucent. Not exactly a great medium for viewing art.

[abledon]

Part of me wonders how little body consciousness future generations will have when there is easily accessibletechnology like this that sucks the focus away from the immediate body you reside in and into a virtual world. On The Positive, I like how you can stand to use this technology, and not be trapped sitting in a chair.

Brave New World Ho!

[bovermyer]

Or, on the other hand, it allows us to more fully control our sensory reality, thus beginning to make "reality" as a concept more fluid.

[prawn]

If the method of viewing these isn't completely proprietary, someone should be setting up a site to distribute free and paid experiences. First or early to market would pay off like it did for early dominant Minecraft forums and the like.

I can see this becoming a thing. As a commenter here notes, people could create graphic novels in 3D space.

[joosters]

I wonder what the file format is... is it open, so it can be viewed by other VR systems, or is it tied to HTC? Can you view the creations in a browser? (Obviously you can make videos, but is there a 3d navigator for non-VR viewers?)

[justncase80]

I don't know for sure but I bet it is, or could be exported to, any existing object model file formats. Like fbx.

[zardo]

The last scene... VR graphic novels could be pretty amazing.

[hxrts]

Digital artist Jeremiah Johnson using a beta release: https://www.instagram.com/p/_TFWRWK6Xh/

[takeda]

Isn't this based on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSbkn6mCfXE

(If you're impatient to skip into 2:30)

[timecube]

That is this.

[marknutter]

If we nail VR over the next few years, it's going to change everybody's motivations. You think people are locked into their screens today? Just you wait..

[eva1984]

The concept is cool, but the supposedly-creative music is just annoying for being so generic.

[ChrisClark]

Makes you wonder, are musical tastes subjective?

[flashman]

Well, if nothing else, the coming VR cycle is going to be more psychedelic than the last.

[pollen42]

We have one in our office and it really is amazing. My favorite moment was when I pulled my hand back to go around a line, forgetting that it was virtual. Real immersion.

We also able to comp the drawings on to video. Not perfect yet, but trying: https://twitter.com/evanbbb/status/704727611201724416

[tled]

If you don't have a HTC Vive. Then try this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cc.openframewo...

[spb]

This appears to be a blatant ripoff of https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cc.openframewo... - they didn't even change the app ID to refer to something other than the original developer's domain.

[mserdarsanli]

http://buttersafe.com/2011/12/22/the-greatest-gift/

[Bjorkbat]

This is by far probably the biggest motivating factor for me to buy one of these latest gen VR headsets. Everyone else seems largely preoccupied with trying to get into VR filmmaking or slapping VR onto just any old game, but this really unleashes a lot of the potential of VR.

Admittedly I'm a little disappointed to see nothing about the old company's story on the website. The founders must seem truly remarkable, yet the landing page gives no clue as to who they are. We just know that it's by Google, which technically isn't wrong.

[personjerry]

Oh man I can't wait to see the Michaelangelos and Berninis of today

[sosuke]

I'm nervous about reality preserving the medium for as long as their works have been around. Do you think it wouldn't be a problem?

[xplot]

Imagine the kind of fun one could have with this and a bit of THC.

[omarchowdhury]

Or LSD, for that matter.

[Dowwie]

Draw stars and then watch them come down around you?

..and so with the introduction of the TiltBrush, Google enters a new era of VR-enhanced pscyhedelic paraphernalia

[puranjay]

As someone who has never experienced VR before, this thing seems unreal.

I can't even imagine what we'll have by the time my kids are in their 20s

[aethertron]

Neat. Dreams by Media Molecule on PS4 looks like a similar thing. (3D painting with motion controls, supposedly coming to VR too.)

[BatFastard]

You only get to draw on the planes you create is that correct? I would like to see how you select different panes. Not enough details, creating 3D art is tough. Recently I had a very immersive experience with the LeapMotion controller and my DK2. If you get a chance try the new Orion experience from LeapMotion! Wow!

[zitterbewegung]

I remember there was a similar system for CAVE st argonne national laboratory I think it was helped by crayons.

[hijp]

I would really love to do this with a bunch of friends in the same virtual room, physically present or not. Just painting together, walking through or around each other's creations and working together. I really hope they add a multiplayer aspect to this someday!

[concernedctzn]

Has google made the source available for this? Would be a cool contribution to the VR scene.

[kimar]

Looks amazing. Wonder how this would compare to Oculus Quill (although Quill is still an internal tool at the moment).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbhUdKvJfw8

[radarsat1]

Very similar idea to Sandde, http://www.sandde.com/, which stemmed from a collaboration between IMAX and the National Film Board of Canada.

[sytelus]

Can you walk around, walk away and come back? How much movement is allowed before experience breaks down? This is the major difference between VR devices like Occulus/Cardboard vs Hololens.

[6x9equals42]

It's on an HTC Vive so you're tethered to a PC with USB cables, but you have about a 15ft by 15ft square to move around in.

[uptown]

Reminds me a lot of "What Dreams May Come"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120889/

[journeeman]

This is great! Is there a similar app for sculpting in VR out there?

[timecube]

Oculus Medium (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IreEK-abHio)

[brayton]

Check out http://www.sculptrvr.com

[kdkooo]

Soooo cool! This is clearly the way of the future.

[tremguy]

Can you share the space with other people wearing VR? Collaborating in something like this would really make it for me.

[skrowl]

This is the first actual app I've seen that uses "room scale" VR that Valve/HTC talked up so much.

[sidcool]

This is seriously amazing.

[richardboegli]

Something seems odd, why are the videos on the site not YouTube videos???

Answered my own question: TiltBrush was acquired by Google in 2015. Its still a missed opportunity by not having the videos on YouTube.

[timwaagh]

its so easy to miss the l

[shmerl]

Is it open source?

[ripitrust]

simply OMG

[ehosca]

instant nausea...

[matthew-wegner]

The Vive version? Absolutely not. I have a Vive Pre--before that the developer kit--and I've seen people new to VR spend over an hour straight in Tilt Brush. My Steam account shows 10+ hours logged.

I'm assuming you're either referring to the Google Cardboard version (which I haven't tried), or just trolling...