VoxVR

  VoxVR is a creative tool to create awesome 3D-models and voxel-art. Its a lot easier and more fun to build 3D objects in 3D space than on a 2D screen.  

[vox-vr]

Dev Blog #3

Hey!

We posted the last dev-blog in august. At first we wanted to post one every month, but we simply do not have time for that. So I guess a post every three months is sufficient.

Before I list the changes in VoxVR itself, a few other things:

The most important news is, that we now have a Steam page. That doesn’t mean you are already able to buy VoxVR, but you can follow and wishlist it. With the Steam page we also created a official Steam community group.

We also migrated our blog to Tumblr. You probably won’t notice any changes, because we integrated the Tumblr blog seamlessly into our website. The advantage of using Tumblr for the blog is, that you are now able to like, reblog and follow our blog. If the blog on our website does not work for you, you can check us out directly on Tumblr over here.

If you want to get noticed when a blog post is published, you can follow us on Tumblr, join the Steam community group or sign-up for the Broken Vector newsletter (in case you didn’t know, Broken Vector - that’s us).

We created a Roadmap on the VoxVR website, where you can follow the development and see which features are already implemented and which are planned.

We also discussed whether VoxVR should be spelled VoxVR or Vox VR. We decided for several reasons, that VoxVR is better (And you agreed in this poll.).

So what changed in VoxVR?

We basically rewrote and reworked most existing systems and code, because we moved from the prototype for Greenlight to a real application. We now have multiple scenes and also work on a menu. As promised in the last dev-blog we made a lot of thoughts and concepts about UI stuff. We figured out most of it, but we are still note sure how to design the menu. 

Brushes are also working now. We only implemented a few brushes as you can see on the Roadmap. If you have suggestions for new brushes, please don’t hesitate to suggest one in the Steam community forums.

It’s now also possible to import .png images, which then gets voxelized and placed into the world.

We not only fixed tons of bugs, we also automated the way we publish updates to Steam pipe (that’s the tool, which you use to upload your app to steam) and added several debug tools.

Next, we will work on implementing the UI, creating a menu scene and maybe also start working on changing the voxel engine to use multiple threads.

See you soon!

[vox-vr]

VoxVR is now on Steam!

VoxVR hasn’t released yet, but we already published our Steam page, so that you can follow and wishlist the app. We also created a official VoxVR Steam group, where you can discuss new features, updates and other stuff.

Links:

- Store Page

- Community Group

[vox-vr]

Dev Blog #2

Welcome back!

Since the last dev blog we added Collada (.dae) as an export format to expand out compatibility. You can now also load reference images, directly in VoxVR, which helps artists to use their inspiration while creating in VR. Reference images can be loaded while VoxVR is running: Just throw your images into the VoxVR 'images'-folder. The next big task is the creation of a better UI, that gives the user more freedom, as well as easily presenting all the tools, that we want to implement. The plan for that is already finished. We are also working on minor features like different environments to make you more comfortable, when creating your artwork.

We gave out the first alpha builds to our testers! If you want to test VoxVR and provide us with valuable feedback, please don't hesitate to ask us (via social media, mail or contact form).

To test the usability, we also create artwork on our own. We recently participated in the Weekly Voxels challenge with the theme "food". Here is the result:

Broken Food by michidk on Sketchfab

Aaron Clifford already played VoxVR live on Twitch. You can watch the recording here. We updated our "Made with VoxVR" page with new content that was made from some of our testers.

Here is the dev log as a video:

As always we want to know how you think about the latest developments, so feel free to comment.

[vox-vr]

Dev Blog #1

Hi!

We want to give you a first short overview of what we already have implemented and what we are working on right now. First of all we already passed Steam Greenlight! So you will be able to access VoxVR more easily and maybe even share your creations through the Steam workshop. Who knows what will happen?

Of course placing and removing single blocks is already working very well, but to support you with placing blocks and brushes more precisely we also implemented a nice preview that snaps to the blocks you would create when hitting the place-button. That way it is easier for you to predict what is going to happen, without trying over and over again. But this preview is in an early state of development and won't support brushes for now.

The colorpicker is also fully implemented. It uses our special technique, which maps the hue and the saturation + value to two circles which are accessible through the Vive-controller touchpad. By just touching you select the saturation and by pressing you select the color.

And last, but not least the import and export process runs very well. We already tested it with programs like Magica Voxel, Qubicle and Blender and all of them work as expected.

Voxel House by Mezaka on Sketchfab

Of course we did way more than we can currently show, most of the stuff happens 'behind the scenes'. We always work on improving our new and existing systems. For example we spend tons of time to make the voxel mesh generation algorithm more efficient and faster so that Vox VR runs on every machine.

But where are all the brushes that you so desperatly need? Well, we are working on those right now. You can expect the first working brushes in the next dev log. If you have ideas for brushes and / or other suggestions, please let us know in the comments!

We will keep you updated with all the changes of Vox VR frequently and would appreciate your valuable feedback and ideas!

Oh and here is the dev log as a video:

[vox-vr]

Vote for us on Greenlight!

Hey! We just launched our Greenlight campaign. If you want to see VoxVR on Steam, please vote for us!

Why Steam?

Steam is a great way to distribute your game or application, because you have all your games in one place. Also it has very useful built-in features we wanna use, like the Steam Workshop which allows you to share your creations with other users on steam as well as downloading creations. To request a feature or leave a comment, you just need a few clicks.

[vox-vr]

Starting VoxVR

Two weeks ago we started a new project. Since we, Broken Vector, love to create games in the typical indie game style, involving simplistic ideas like the lowpoly or the voxel theme, we are always on the lookout for new tools to speed up our workflow. We also just received the HTC Vive (a virtual reality headset), which is really fun to use and creates some great gaming experiences, but sadly it did not seem as useful as a mouse or keyboard as a tool at first glance. But that is only the case if you think about programs that use a lot of text or other two-dimensional data. But I am a 3D artist. And there is one key element, that is bugging me a lot. If I want to position something in 3D space I always need to do at least 2 actions. But the HTC Vive offers us a way to reduce that down to a single movement. I know that does not seem like a big deal. But if you try it out you realize how much more fun and faster it is to interact with your models directly. That is why we started to work on VoxVR, which offers you a really vivid way to simply create voxel based models.

But that is just our vision of the project. What we are interested in is your opinion. Have a look at the features page to see what we are currently planning to implement to Vox VR in the near future and help us on our way to the finished tool by suggesting new features, critizising the existing ones, or just simply telling us about your opinion using social networks (link in the footer) or the contact form.

Mezaka