A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK

There’s no tutorial in SculptrVR. You’re just left to dive in. For me that works fine, but I’m already conversant in some of the rules and tools of 3D modelling. I will say that my wife and children have had no problems just exploring the options on offer and just having a play about, and that seems to be the point. If you’re new to the idea, then the clue is in the title. With SculptrVR, you can create shapes, carve away at them, paint them, move them and fuse them with other shapes. In short, you can sculpt in VR. You can do so in a void, or create and add to an entire landscape made of the same virtual ‘rock’ like everything else. The scale is impressive if you want it to be; so much so that the title provides different ways of exploring your landscape, from standard teleportation to climbing and gliding. Even that in itself is fun once you get the, er, hang of it.

STONECRAFT

The app really wants you to feel like you’re physically sculpting material, and have fun while you’re doing it. There’s some lovely feedback when you are carving and creating – little chips of ‘stone’ chitter off as you carve, with appropriate sound effects. The whole thing is delightfully tactile, and a world away from the refined sterility of Gravity Sketch. The flipside of that is that, in comparison to its peers, SculptrVR can feel imprecise and a little low-definition. You probably aren’t going to be making precisely modelled Warhammer figures to 3D print with this. Well, not unless you have far steadier hands and infinitely more patience than the likes of me. This roughness is mitigated a little by the scale at which you can work on things, and then resize them. Just bear in mind that you’ll be working with virtual clay or stone rather than laser-cut steel.

ART ATTACK

SculptrVR allows you to import objects or images and can export them for further modelling in other apps or 3D printing. But as much as SculptrVR will support an organised and technical approach, it also really wants you to let your hair down, particularly with friends. The multiplayer element is fantastic, proving a universe of possibilities for both creation and silliness. 

Using SculptrVR, art collectives can join each other in virtual spaces and create imaginative vistas. You could also just use it to threaten your mate with a giant dildo you’ve made, before gliding away and blowing up the castle he spent the last hour building. A friend of mine, an artist and photographer, is using SculptrVR to painstakingly recreate Vermeer’s ‘The Milkmaid’ in three dimensions. My five-year-old son was able to make Spider-Man’s head on his first attempt. Kids love playing with this as it’s like having infinite amounts of Play-Doh, as well as rockets that they can launch at creations. People always talk about the educational possibilities of Minecraft in schools, but SculptrVR points to an even more interactive and involving virtual future. 

THE REVEL IS IN THE DETAILS

This review, rather like the app itself, is light on explanation of the various tools on offer, and a little low on detail. This is because I wholeheartedly believe that if you think you’ll like SculptrVR, then you probably will. There’s very little that I can tell you about it that you won’t glean from the fun video on its page on the Oculus Store.

The best thing you can do to maximise your enjoyment of it is to throw yourself into it and explore it directly. (We’ll be doing a couple of ‘Let’s Play’ videos for this and other titles soon and in which will go into some of the tips and tricks for getting the most out of it). That said, there are a few people to whom I wouldn’t recommend this title. Those who like guided instruction or some direction to their VR experiences would be better served with something a little less free-form, perhaps. Most, however, will be addicted to it given the tiniest of tries and, for a relatively low price, it is an essential addition to nearly everyone’s Quest library. 

The app is easy to use for all ages and abilities, and capable of some impressive results if you spend some time mastering it. SculptrVR proudly takes its place alongside Gravity Sketch and Tilt Brush as another essential creative app for the Quest. 

There’s a delightful children’s book by seminal illustrator Quentin Blake called Angel Pavement. In it, a pair of rather gobby angels give a street artist a pencil that can draw in air. The resulting 3D doodles come to life in a colourful way and delight everybody who sees them. Google’s astonishing Tilt Brush is the VR equivalent of that concept, and it represents a significant milestone in the history of this new medium. Its release on Quest, alongside Gravity Sketch, makes Oculus’ little wonder something of a must-have for creatives and designers of all kinds.

THE VIEW BELONGS TO EVERYONE

This is not to say, however, that Tilt Brush has nothing to offer the casual user. It’s almost ridiculously easy to use, and its accessibility and sense of fun mean that there’s no barrier to entry. The very idea of drawing in mid-air in 3D space is obviously brilliant but can be grasped immediately by anyone wearing the headset. In the many sessions I’ve had introducing the Quest to friends, family, and colleagues new to VR (VRgins?), it is Tilt Brush that is universally adored. It entrances all who use it. The sense of childlike wonder it engenders in the user can’t be conveyed, it has to be experienced.

There’s no real barrier to entry here – if you can use your hands, you can create in Tilt Brush. You can draw with pure light, in any colour imaginable. The simple but powerful controls are perfectly easy to (literally) grasp; the palette with tools and colours in one hand, brush in the other.

It’s an excellent fit for the Quest controllers and feels effortless. You can create solid 3D shapes, scenery; daub rude bits on a snowman, or create trippy, pulsating tendrils of neon and then set them on fire. Tilt Brush rises to meet the imagination of the user and provides a creative platform for those who might otherwise feel they can’t draw.

FEEL THE NOISE

Worth special mention is the efforts Google have gone to to make Tilt Brush a convincing sensory experience, rather than an abstract one. Not only are many of the brushes animated, but everything makes an entirely appropriate sound with positional audio. Draw past your ear, and you’ll hear your selected tool move past you – be that the scratching of a pencil or the synthy pulsing of the neon tube brush. It seems like a small thing, but adds so much delight to the experience, and is another reason just to let go and have fun with it.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Tilt Brush is already being used by artists to create incredible works, many of which can be explored in the gallery section. If you’ve experienced Vader Immortal (and you really should), then you will have experienced the part in which exposition explodes all around you, an animated 3D storybook. That was created in Tilt Brush, and only hints at the possibilities.

Tilt Brush legitimately represents a new way of creating art. It transcends age and ability, yet also provides talented artists with a unique platform to showcase and even transform the way they create. Tilt Brush is already being used in many different contexts; art installations, schools, and also for new forms of art therapy. Most importantly, it represents a massive amount of fun. It’s liberating and expressive, and its appeal is universal.