Gravity Sketch - Designing in a VR Environment

Gravity Sketch - 3D VR Design tools

At this year's BlueGFX Expo last week, one of the most interesting demonstrations was Gravity Sketch - a new software tool for designing assets in a 3D VR Environment.

The advantage of Gravity Sketch is speed; like its rival TiltBrush it allows designers to create complex sophisticated assets very fast, in an intuitive, virtual environment.

What is Gravity Sketch?
3D Designer Glen Southern from Wacom and SouthernVFX demonstrated just how quickly a designer can intuitively and speedily create original and sophisticated content, the kind of thing that skilled artists upload at ArtStation. Many of our students got to try out the interface - one of the many advantages of attending events like this one. When I asked them what it was like to model with Gravity Sketch, their first question was "when can we get this at Escape Studios?"

Glen Southern designs - in VR

What Gravity Sketch is, and is not
Gravity Sketch isn't about making production-ready assets, suitable for animation. It's more about creating concept work, so that concept artists can get a variety of sophisticated images in front of a client in double-quick time.

Let's say the client wants a giant robot in the style of Transformers. A skilled designer can have three versions done by lunchtime, saving a huge amount of design time. 

Problems - and solutions
One thing that Gravity Sketch doesn't have yet is a Boolean-type operation, enabling users to punch holes in a piece of geometry. This will be coming soon, along with many more features that users are already asking for.

In fact, if you're using Gravity Sketch, says Glen, make a list of the stuff you want - and send it to the Gravity Sketch team.

Modeling a biped in VR

Good design is about the designer
But, in the end, said Glen, if you're a designer, it's not really about the tools: you should be able to "design with a T shirt and a bucket of resin".

So, as a student, even if you don't have the latest tools, this should not stop you from creating amazing work. No artist should get too hung on the technology - the tools are in your hands.

That said. we'd still like to get this shiny new toy at Escape Studios. In fact, I might send an email right now. 
 
The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, follow this link.  To apply, visit the offical page here.