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Google releases "Blocks"-- Low Poly Modeling app for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift

Moondrop

Banned
Yes yes yes! More tools for the masses! Looks just as intuitive as Tilt Brush. Plus another excuse to use OVRdrop.

EDIT: It's free and up on Steam right now!
 

low-G

Member
Gonna have to try it tonight. Wonder if it makes art fun like Tilt Brush (I have no considerable artistic skill).
 

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
Gonna have to try it tonight. Wonder if it makes art fun like Tilt Brush (I have no considerable artistic skill).

I just tried it out and it's fun in similar ways. The "draw stroke" tool lets you do Tilt Brush-style drawing in space, just with 3D objects as the result of tracing out a path with the shape tool. Hopefully they can just bring the two tool sets together into one application rather than needing to export from Blocks and import to Tilt Brush.
 

Tain

Member
How do I get the OBJ? edit: nvm, you need to publish your model not just save it

This is neat though, for sure. I think it's missing some tools that I'd consider necessary (I couldn't figure out how to subtract, scale faces, or mirror things, for example), but it's a good start and the low-poly approach is fundamentally different from Medium.
 

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
How do I get the OBJ?

This is neat though, for sure. I think it's missing some tools that I'd consider necessary (I couldn't figure out how to subtract, scale faces, or mirror things, for example), but it's a good start and the low-poly approach is fundamentally different from Medium.

Yeah, I'd like to see a subtract tool for carving things (erase as a colour on the palette, basically), and it's missing a bunch of features that would be needed for proper alignment, but it's a good start like you said.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Whoaaaaaaa!
Dang this is amazingly exciting, been wanting something for rudimentary cad work. This seems like it could probably do some very ground level computer case designing.
 
This is awesome! I always thought sketchup would be perfect in VR, and thought sculpting had an edge over drawing from a virtual perspective.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Was able to go upstairs to the vive room for a sec.
Its some neat shit!

You can break your creations on the ground if you wanna delete them. Just grab them and throw them. You can select all and move things around as a group, but in my 10 minutes I could'nt find a way to truly merge different objects together into one singular object.
 

low-G

Member
I tried this tonight. Requires way more understanding of modelling than I possess. I actually have to split polygons in such a way to be logical so I don't end up with one million verticies? I would have no idea how to create even a relatively simple shape that wasn't completely unwieldy to edit...
 
It's definitely really basic at the moment, but I enjoyed it. The sharing feature is really great too. I hope they continue supporting it because there's some features it definitely needs.

Wish List:

Ability to select multiple edges/faces
Merge faces
Alignment features (snap to edge/vertex)
Mirroring
Proper scaling (everything seems kinda arbitrary right now)
 

Calabi

Member
This is great, it could potentially compete with software like Zbrush in the future(the long future) thats if they dont implement their own VR system.
 

Moondrop

Banned
Finally got around to this and I enjoy it as much as Tiltbrush. Or perhaps it merely requires less artistic ability to make something pretty. I do wish for more features, but this shouldn't be slept on.

You can select all and move things around as a group, but in my 10 minutes I could'nt find a way to truly merge different objects together into one singular object.
I think the hotfix to this is the saving feature. You save multiple objects as one, and then re-import as effectively one object. Saving and loading is implemented pretty well, but of course this isn't true merging.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Did some more of this this morning. Its quite neat. I've been planning out a homemade desk made from simple materials and previously have been drawing it in Tiltbrush. This is better suited but the software needs some time to mature. It just feels... finicky.


I can also confirm that saving objects does make them available to spawn in on demand. But be careful! You can't make two objects on one file. I made this mistake this morning.

Cool stuff. Haven't quite hit my stride with it.

I also did try to make punches in a cube and its possible.. If you use the subsect tool you can cut a square out of the cube and then manipulate that by extruding it in or out.

Good stuff. working with one hand is lame for the 3D stuff though. Having the pallette on the left in TB makes perfect sense.. not so much here. You wanna get in there and use both hands.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
https://www.blog.google/products/google-vr/daydream-labs-bringing-3d-models-life/

seems Google is testing animation for Blocks
As we explored all these quirky creations, we imagined how great it would be if the models could come to life. Right now, even the best creations are still static, and our team at Daydream Labs took that as a challenge. So, during a one-week hackathon, we prototyped ways to make Blocks scenes feel dynamic and alive. Here’s what we came up with:

They test several ways of animation. direct control (animate using your body as if you are the character itself), grab points (grab a specific points and manipulate them), and posing (as if they are mannequins)
jiggly.gif
motioncontrol.gif
feet_9gkxlew.gif
chairgums.gif
ToffPose4.gif
JumpFastGif.gif
finalblocks.gif
 
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