The Pixel-maker has released a new app to help anyone trying to easily create 3D objects easily. Called Google Blocks, the new app is available for free on the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Google touts that the app is intuitive enough to be easily used by early developers but also at the same time can create good models that are compelling. Using the app, anyone can create the 3D objects and export them to be viewed online. “Blocks is simple enough for anyone to use, even those without any prior modelling experience. It’s designed to feel more like playing with children’s blocks than working with traditional 3D modelling software,” Jason Toff, group product manager at Google wrote in a blog. “Starting with a simple set of shapes, a color palette, and an intuitive set of tools, you’re able to naturally and quickly create almost anything you can imagine, from a piece of watermelon to a whole forest scene.”
Users also have the options of putting them inside 3D scenes in Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality. The exported content can also be spun around to create downloadable animated GIFs. “We’ve already seen amazing creations and use cases from 3D modelers, artists, developers and even people with no modeling experience at all—ranging from a robot that could star in a game, to a skyline meant as a backdrop for a Tilt Brush sketch, to some cacti made just for fun,” Toff further explained. Interestingly, Blocks can be used by users with Google’s popular Tilt Brush 3D painting tool. Where Tilt Brush gives the illusion of sculpting with light and paint, Blocks seems to fit best with the colorful art style that Google uses in its Daydream VR interface. However, Blocks is only limited to high-end VR headsets for now and that means Daydream VR users can’t access it yet.
