3 posts tagged with "webvr"

Today we're really excited to announce support for WebVR into the PlayCanvas Editor.

This week Google announced that WebVR 1.1 (the latest current version of the spec) should be released in Chrome for Android in January 2017. But for a feature as complex as virtual reality, browser support is only one piece of the puzzle. At PlayCanvas, we know how important great tools are to making high quality experiences so today we're launching our WebVR engine integration to make sure that you can create applications right now.

PlayCanvas WebVR​

Optimized Engine Support​

The PlayCanvas graphics engine is an advanced WebGL graphics engine. We've worked hard to make sure our renderer is optimized specifically for stereo rendering. Unlike most engines we don't simply render the scene twice for each eye. Instead, our renderer knows that a lot of the main render loop is the same for each eye. So, for example, expensive operations like culling, sorting draw calls and setting uniforms and render states only have to be done once before we draw the scene for each eye. This can lead to a significant performance increase, particularly on mobile.

Polyfill for unsupported platforms​

It's still early days for WebVR which means it's not yet supported on all platforms. When you enable WebVR in your PlayCanvas project, we make sure your browser can support it using the WebVR polyfill library from Google. PlayCanvas is smart enough to load the library only if you need it.

Tutorials and Documentation​

PlayCanvas is renowned for its extensive documentation and VR is no different. Basic instructions, API reference and specific optimization tips, we've got it all.

Samples and Starter Kits​

These sample projects show you how to construct a VR scene and give you sample code to start from.

Hello World - A very simple 3D scene

360 Image - Just drop in your own 360 panorama

360 Video - Add a link to your own video

Room Scale VR - A more complex scene designed for HTC Vive and other Room Scale VR

The Future​

We believe the future for WebVR is very bright and we're committed to making PlayCanvas the best tool for creating WebVR applications. Sign up for free today, we'd love to see what you build!

Did you hear? VR is BIG! But what is bigger than VR? The web, that's what. What happens when you mix the web and VR?

WebVR is an emerging standard that lets you create 3D virtual experiences on the web and control them using your mobile phone or VR headset. But creating virtual reality is a complex process involving knowledge of WebGL rendering, new input APIs and (at the moment) a constantly changing spec.

That's why we've introduced the VR Starter Kit in PlayCanvas.

The VR Starter Kit is available when you select New Project in your PlayCanvas dashboard. It sets you up straight away with a boilerplate scene containing a VR Camera (using our open source WebVR plugin). It works immediately with Google Cardboard-style VR headsets for mobile phones or with the special WebVR builds of Chrome or Firefox.

To get started, select the VR Starter Kit in the New Project dialog.

Once you've created your first scene take a look at our WebVR Tutorial to see how you can include the camera code yourself and learn how we interact with the virtual world.

Looking for more features around WebVR? Get in touch with us on twitter or over at our forum.

Today we've launched a new library and developer tutorial and sample project showing you how to implement your own Cardboard VR web applications using PlayCanvas.

Google's Cardboard VR is an excellent low cost device for experiencing virtual reality via your phone and a simple head mounted display. At PlayCanvas we immediately saw the benefit of using WebGL to display 3D VR experiences right in your browser. With WebGL VR you can distribute VR content quickly and easily to every user with a mobile web browser. With nothing to install there is no barrier to entry.

The PlayCanvas WebVR plugin makes it simple to add support for VR to your application. Simply add a couple of JavaScript files to your PlayCanvas project and add the VR Camera script to your camera entity. That's all it takes to add VR support to your project

Our demonstration project shows you a example of a simple interactive VR scene that you can use to learn.

On a mobile device just tap the view above to enable the Cardboard VR mode. Our tutorial will walk you through how to add VR to your projects.

This is the start of VR support in PlayCanvas and we'll be working to integrate Cardboard VR and WebVR closer into the editor as they get more popular.