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‘ShapesXR’ Is A Rapid Prototyping VR Tool

Quickly create immersive scenes and populate them with 3D assets using this easy-to-use VR development app.

Teamwork makes the dream work, but sometimes communicating an idea can get a little messy, especially if you are working remotely. Being able to present those ideas in three dimensions via a collaborative VR environment would make things a lot easier for everyone.

ShapesXR is a design and rapid prototyping tool that can be used to create AR and VR experiences directly on your Oculus Quest headset. You can also collaborate on a project with your team and share it easily across the web. While most AR and VR building tools tend to feature a steep learning curve and require some form of coding experience, ShapeXR ditches all of that through an interactive onboarding process and lets you build with your hands rather than create through complex computer language.

Created by Tvori, ShapesXR is a dream for remote teams seeking a more efficient way to communicate with each other and collaborate on a project via the Quest. If you don’t own a Quest, you’re still able to view projects on a web browser, allowing you near-constant access to the project and team. It’s also game engine friendly, which means you can port your project into something like Unity.

In an official press release, Inga Petryaevskaya, CEO and Co-Found of Tvori, talked about how ShapeXR was created out of their own frustrations, saying, “While building Tvori we’ve been missing a tool like ShapesXR, it was painful to iterate fast, have productive conversations as a remote team and move forward and test any new feature without coding in Unity. We wanted to ideate spatially together and communicate our ideas in VR,” adding “Collaboration and ease of use became our top priority and acceptance criteria for ShapesXR”. 

Image Credit: Tvori

The tool operates similar to that of VR apps such as Tilt Brush or Gravity Sketch. Your Touch controllers are used to access a menu of pre-made parts and functions. Simply choose what you want and upload it to your workspace. You can adjust the size of objects, add components, change colors, and access other functions and actions.

The workspace itself is clean and easy to navigate. Your co-workers appear as floating VR headsets, allowing you to interact and communicate with one another. All in all, it should take you about five minutes to learn how to build in ShapesXR. Obviously, the more time you spend on the platform, the faster you’ll be at creating robust assets. 

Image Credit: Tvori

You can also do live tests of your creations to work out bugs before making your creation publicly available. If you’re looking to bring in someone outside of your team, you can easily share the project by giving them a code that they can use to enter the workspace.

ShapeXR is available now on the Oculus App Lab and works on both the Quest and the Quest 2.

Feature Image Credit: Tvori

About the Scout

Bobby Carlton

Hello, my name is Bobby Carlton. When I'm not exploring the world of immersive technology, I'm writing rock songs about lost love. I'd also like to mention that I can do 25 push-ups in a row.

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