I think Shapr is an excellent candidate for VR. Interfaces that require traditional input devices (mouse and keyboard) don’t translate well to tablets nor VR. I have experienced no other UX like Shapr’s, and I think it would be incredible in VR. I’ve played around with a few drawing apps in VR, including my employer’s (shameless plug) Harmonix - Music VR, and creating content in virtual reality is otherworldly.
When you’re done with that, a sculpting app would be great, too. 
We had long-long discussions on this.
Short answer: yes, but not now.
A bit longer: VR is not there yet. I have been fooling around with some high-end VR kits, and they are good but not great. Latency is a serious issue, even with the most expensive VR kits, but what is the fundamental problem is that nobody knows yet what is going to be the input device for VR or AR. Most likely your hands, but are there any good or even OK solutions for that? No. Not even close.
However we also see a huge potential in Shapr for VR (or rather for AR), but not in the near future. But from a technical perspective it is doable, we could easily port Shapr to any other environment, and as soon as we will see 500k sold high-end VR kits with decent input devices/API, we will do it 
So … is it done yet? 
VR is still not there yet
If you want to see your Shapr3d model in VR you can upload it to sketchfab and open it in the oculus webbrowser
Also, you can watch your shapr3d models in AR directly the shapr3d app
So is now a good time? 
I’ve been playing with gravity sketch and shapes on the quest 2, and all it does is make me wish I was using shapr3d. So please please please I would pay extra and give you my left kidney.
In its current state, I don’t see VR becoming a content creation platform, it’s mostly for content consumption. I just have a hard time believing that the future is to spend 8 hours a day in VR creating 3D designs by waving around with plastic joysticks in our hand. I believe some sort of substantial improvement has to happen in the space to make VR suitable for real workplace productivity as a content creation platform, and I don’t see it yet what that improvement will be. Haptic feedback, and some sort of more sophisticated controls are my best bets. What do you think?
I would agree. I don`t belive the waving hands in the air is a good way to 3D model.
But something i could see happen (and probably is already possible?) is :
Running Shapr3d in a VR, AR or Mixed Reality virtual desktop. I even could see you do this with a powerfull remote or local server?
But you would still use a physical mouse (+ spacemous?) and keyboard.
Also being able to view the model in VR, MX or AR .
This can probably already be done by exporting it to a VR viewer of some sort.
Here is my take on the concept:
And here is a guy who made a prototype for a VR Virtual desktop OS
He`s actually doing some interesting things with 3D modeling work from 22:45
Oculus quest was also showing off Mixed Reality Virtual Desktop:
And you could probably already try Shapr3D in this Virtual Desktop application:
Cloudberry is also a new rendering company that is making a platform to render and animate models for VR on windows
https://www.cloudberrie.io/product
Either way, I don`t think Shapr3d will have to do anything. Apple, Meta and other VR/MX/AR manufacturers or applications developers will provide the solution to run apps like Shapr3D or view the models
A livestream of a model would be nice though
And even if Shapr3D made it possible to run the app in VR or MX. I still belive a keyboard and mouse + spacemouse is the prefered input device.
Or even having seethrough to see the Ipad but sitting in a live VR enviorment of the 3D model one is modeling.
Sure, I agree that there are plenty of other ways how we could take utilize VR.
“It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.” George Washington Carver
A couple weeks ago I agreed with your opinion. I had tried VR, a few years back. It was a large headset connected by a cable to a PC. The whole experience felt like a big technology demo, but nothing more. Definitely nothing compelling me to get a VR headset. But with the imminent announcement of Apple’s VR headset this or next year, and Meta’s push into the “metaverse”, I wondered what I was missing, so I bought an Oculus Quest 2.
Within a day my opinion changed and now believe that within the next three years people will replace their monitors with VR headsets, and thereafter replace their iPhones with AR glasses. VR today is very compelling to me. I am not a big game player and was interested in what VR had to offer for productivity and content creation, and the Quest 2 is hitting all the right notes for me:
It’s wireless and self-contained. It’s less like I’m using a computer and instead am in an alternate place that I can tailor to my work style. The computer has disappeared into the background, and I am directly manipulating my apps, just like the iPhone did for me on a flat screen.
Hand tracking is good enough for manipulation of windows, buttons, etc. For certain supported keyboards (e.g. the Apple keyboard), it scans the real keyboard and renders a virtual one inside your environment that matches up with your real one so you don’t have to type blind. Also, you can turn on object outlines that renders the real world in outlines, so you are still in the real world, only it’s dimininshed, letting your content take focus. The controllers are like a stylus when you need professional tools and precision.
I can have as many monitors as I like, all the size of a 90” TV, anywhere I want it, including a coffee shop, or on an airplane. I have been coding in this environment for a week and it’s amazing. Work is now a virtual place instead of an office or the corner of my bedroom. When I’m done working, I can take “work” off my head and there’s no work peripherals lying about. Or if I want to stay in VR, I can hit a button and work completely disappears.
Apps are fundamentally multi-user, from movie watching, to 3d sketching, to painting, to office meetings, to socializing and chat. I feel more like I’m with people than when I’m on my computer or my phone. People aren’t just talking heads; they’re in the same room with me, collaborating, or just hanging out.
I have 90” tvs and large Apple monitors at my house, as well as any number of iPads and iPhones, yet I prefer to browse the web, and watch YouTube and Netflix inside of VR. Yes, this is consumption, but it’s a compelling reason to stay in VR. Thousands of dollars of equipment lying about, all replaced with a $300 headset.
It sounds dystopian and sad to spend 8 hours in VR, but it’s dystopian and sad that people sitting around the dinner table are constantly on their phones and not talking to each other. That ship has sailed, and no one is going to change people’s behaviors. I think VR is compelling enough to pull people off of their phones, and when AR comes about, I think people won’t want to carry their phones with them, just put on some glasses. The consumption will keep people in VR, and because of that they will want their productivity apps in there as well. Just like when people started spending more time on their phones, the apps followed.
It’s not that Shapr3d is better in VR (though I’m pretty sure it would be), but that it’s where I want to hang out, and it’s where I want my tools to be. When someone ships thin glasses (probably Apple) it will be game over for iPhones and iPads. Apple and Tim Cook have said as much already, and apparently Zuck is driving people at Meta crazy because that’s all he’ll talk about anymore. They intend VR and AR to replace touchscreens, and with that amount of money behind it, you better bet that’s what will happen.
I can’t really comment on how many people are currently using VR for productivity, but I do know that before the iPhone it was hard for me to believe that the majority of content creation would happen on a tiny screen that fits in your pocket. But now with TikTok, Facebook, emails, notes, cameras, and messages, that’s where it’s happening. VR is this next frontier and I think the rollout will be as fast and furious as the rollout of the original iPhone. The next few years is ripe for VR’s iPhone moment.
I have Shapr3d on both my Mac and iPad, and love how easy it is to come up with things to 3d print. A couple friends and I even started a side business creating some packaging in Shapr3d. I have to say that since I’ve hand my Oculus, I’ve been spending more time in Gravity Sketch, not because it’s a better app, but because it’s in my new preferred environment.
Could I be in a honeymoon space with VR and get bored of it in a month? Maybe. But I have to say I haven’t been this excited about possibilities since the release of the original iPhone. Lighter headsets, more accurate tracking and object recognition, refinements to UI, and more pro tools will only make me want to use it more, not less.
Yes, I’m an early adopter, but not that early. I think I have a knack for getting into things right before they take off, since I’m really interested in in the space where technology hits mass adoption by everyday consumers. I think the writing is on the wall.
So, that’s my reasoning, take it or leave it. Regardless, I love your work with Shapr3d. It is easily the best tool for doing the work that I do and would like to do. I’d just like to use it where I’m currently hanging out.
Thanks for listening,
Mike
Good points. Well, let us see how VR evolves. We are definitely keeping an eye on it.
Came here just to add my input too as VR is something I have been exploring. Istvan, I highly recommend getting hold of a Quest 2 and trying out gravity sketch or shapelab, once you do I think it will open your perspective. VR isn’t about taking over the existing workflows, it’s about adding a new tool to do things.
Shapr3D could have a great angle by being able to work in both flat devices like ipads, and then also be able to take that into VR to continue working. The sculpting apps are beginning to do this like Kodon and Adobe Substance 3d modeller, but there is no CAD modelling. Shapr3d could really jump on that and be a leader of CAD in VR if not left until someone else does it first because I’m sure it will happen.
I think it’s going to become quite common now that a designer role is going to have a VR headset on their desk/office. The price for entry is sub $500, they are wireless, the 2.0 hand tracking is amazing, and it just gives you such a different way of exploring things.
Here is an idea exploration for you. Imagine even a mixed reality version of shapr3d. A client calls you out to site because a small part has broken on a machine and they need it working again this week before the replacement part arrives. You put your quest 2 in the travel bag cause its wireless and apps run natively on the device so nothing is tying you to the PC. Get on site and check out the broken equipment. Put your headset on and start seeing the real world in front of you but you can begin blocking out the model for the temporary replacement part. Once done you can take that model back to the office, continue your work on the ipad and refine the model, then 3d print a temporary replacement.
You can literally build this part out in a hybrid AR/VR, gone are the days measuring something and taking notes on a piece of paper then running back and forward to your pc. Shapr3d could corner that market now before someone else does, and someone else will I promise you.
Biggest problem with any VR implementation is the input. It’s still not precise enough to be useable to create intricate designs. Most VR headsets rely on combinations or gyro/motion with an analogue stick. If you’ve played Dreams on PSVR you will know the difficulties. Sculpting and creating wild designs is fine for fun, but I don’t think even Shapr’s UX would translate well for mm precise designs.
One solution could be using a mouse or ipad/pencil as your input device and the VR headset as your viewer, but then the user would likely suffer from coordination issues.
Anyone who nails CAD VR will likely do it with a whole new concept rather than adapting a flat-screen interface. There would likely have to be a crazy level of algorithmic prediction involved to the point where the AI itself becomes the limiting factor to your design.
i totally agree.
Have anyone tried running Shapr3d in VR with Immersed?
Where should I buy your solution from Japan?
Hello @Hanzou! Please feel free to visit our website (Prices and Plans | Shapr3D) for our latest pricing and license info.
Agree 100% with this, when you actually try building stuff in VR if feels amazing, you can really see what you are doing in 3 dimensions, so you have an a real extra dimension to play with. On top of the control is really precise. Build able to work with 3d models, in 3d is such a clear benefit
