[thenomad]

I've been testing this tool this afternoon.

It's surprisingly powerful. The scale-shifting means it's very easy to work on something at toy soldier scale, and then shift it to be an epic hall or similar. And being able to immediately visualise the space you've created in VR, without having to work on a 2D screen then throw a headset on, is a major improvement on current VR authoring.

(I'm the developer of Left-Hand Path, a VR RPG that's been in production for a year or so, and so have authored rather a lot of VR content.)

Blocks is obviously not trying to be a pro modeling tool, but it might still end up being useful for some professional applications. And it certainly shows just how powerful a pro modeling tool in VR could be.

[stephengillie]

Having developers spend more time "in-helmet" will help them make more compelling VR experiences. It's obvious from the state of experiences that most devs aren't spending all day in VR, the way someone might spend all day in League or WoW or EvE. Hopefully this will fix that.

I'm excited to get home and try this.

[pmoriarty]

The problem with spending a lot of time in VR is that the current generation of VR headsets get incredibly uncomfortable before too long. Developers generally get paid for their efforts, so maybe they'll put up with the discomfort, but I certainly wouldn't want to spend that much time in VR if I could help it.. not before the headsets get a lot more comfortable.

[hesdeadjim]

This. I've spent the last year developing a VR game and making a lot of content and I cannot envision spending even more time in the headset. Double the resolution and give me eye tracking (so my eyes don't wear out from being forced to stare straight ahead) and I will happily change my opinion.

[tluyben2]

People say this and I always feel like the odd one out; I have the first Rift, cheap phone holders and the ps4 vr and I do not find it uncomfortable at all. I have no issues spending days in any of them. Maybe I am just quickly wow'd by simple things... Sure smaller and lighter and no cables would be better but I forget all that after 10 minutes.

[stephengillie]

How minimal could the hardware be, while still making a compelling experience? Even top wireless gaming headsets are still bulky, in this age of miniturization of electronics. (And I prefer my bulky Corsair headset with my Vive more than their earbuds.)

Can a device similar to Google Glass hold enough compute and storage to create a compelling VR experience?

It's the least we could do, if we're not going to return to the Moon in our generation.

[T-A]

> Can a device similar to Google Glass hold enough compute and storage to create a compelling VR experience?

Not currently, but I'd be happy enough with a wireless link to a PC driving something like this: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/hologra...