Gravity Sketch!

[MisterAcoustic]

Hi All,

We acquired an Oculus Quest to help my son enjoy the pandemic a little more .

Eventually, I heard about Gravity Sketch. OH MY GOD - this program is awesome!

It's hard to express just how magnificent this is in comparison to regular 3D modeling programs (which are fundamentally 2D in how they display things on a screen).

With Gravity Sketch - YOU are in the space with the model. You can walk around your design, or through it. When you draw, objects are created where your hand moved in 3D space.

You can draw a complex 3D curve simply by moving your hand in three dimensions - and then, you can create a complementary curve by threading your stroke right through and all around the first one.

It exports to .obj, and most if not all operations produce manifold objects - so it's quite suitable for producing output for 3D printing. It imports as well, if you want to start from existing objects.

As if that wasn't mind blowing enough (and it is, believe me) - the price of the software right now is $22. Yep, twenty two dollars. Now, for best effect, you need a Quest or other VR headset as well - but take my word for it - this is the best deal I've ever heard of for 3D modeling software.

If I didn't impress upon you how different and fantastic this is, feel free to ask questions. Is it perfect? No. Does it have every feature just the way I want it? No. But at the moment I can't imagine modeling in anything else (although, starting something in OpenSCAD might be useful to get engineering scale more easily at the start).

Everyone - if you have a VR headset - buy this immediately. If you don't have a headset, consider if the price of the best 3D software ever were $522 for a lifetime license. It would still be a steal - go buy a Quest too, if you do modeling. I don't think you'll regret it.

Stan

[MisterAcoustic]

Hi All,

I continue to use Gravity Sketch, and I think it's living up to the hype of my previous post.

Just look at the below - I can't draw, and I'm not an artist. But I've been able to do this in GS, and I'm very happy so far:

(gack, pasting in the images looks great in the editor, but not once the post is saved. Switching to attachments.)

As I get better, I hope to skin this, and perhaps make something printable out of it.

Stan

           

[MisterAcoustic]

Hey Everyone!

If you use VR, you will be happy to know that Gravity Sketch is now completely free!

It's just freaking amazing, and if you aren't using it, you are missing out. (Disclaimer, it's not perfect, but boy does it point to a fantastic future).

[Mooselake]

Is that the original or the OQ2?  What did it cost to make it actually usable?  I need prisms in my glasses for double vision, can you either wear glasses or adjust one of the eyes left/right/up/down?

Kirk

[MisterAcoustic]

Is that the original or the OQ2?  What did it cost to make it actually usable?  I need prisms in my glasses for double vision, can you either wear glasses or adjust one of the eyes left/right/up/down?

Kirk

Hi Kirk,

Gravity Sketch is available for both the original Quest, and the Quest 2. I happen to have both - bought an original quest for my son at the beginning of the pandemic, which is how I found out about the program. Then, when the Quest 2 came out, I bought one for myself. For me, they are about equal - I say this because I think the original Quest controllers are better than the Q2, but Q2 has a strong advantage in visual quality and performance. If it weren't for the degraded controllers, the Q2 would have it hands down. YMMV.

The Q2 apparently has more options/space for dealing with glasses - it even ships with a different nose piece that you can put in. The Q2 ships with a lower quality head strap than the Q1, but an upgraded one is available for $50. I bought the upgrade, but found the one that came with it to be 'okay-ish' enough that I haven't even installed the other one. I believe it will be much better - I just haven't had much time for the Quest at all lately - large amounts of other stuff has been getting in the way. I have been trying to come up to speed on the latest Gravity Sketch update, which is what prompted me to post the update about the price change here.

I really like what either headset can do even when not tethered to a PC - I have never used one with a PC driving it in fact. It really cleans up the experience in my opinion, and makes it somewhat worth strapping a big chunk of plastic to your head to try and see something that isn't really there

Stan

PS - about the price - I paid $300 total for a Quest 2 and an upgraded strap. I also paid dearly by being forced to have a Facebook account. The monetary price is totally worth it in my opinion.
Oh and also, the Q1 has a fully variable adjustment for the distance between the eyes. The Q2 has like three fixed detents, so it's still flexible but not as good. You can get it to go between the detents if it's really needed, but it's not ideal.

[Mooselake]

Thanks! Sounds like they may still not work for me.

I had cataracts removed in both eyes, and toric intraocular lenses implanted. Went from lots of astigmatism and very nearsighted to almost 20/20. Kinda strange to not be able to read without glasses now that I have (other then the look two ways at once thing) normal old guy vision minus the cataract haze.

[MisterAcoustic]

Thanks!  Sounds like they may still not work for me.

I had cataracts removed in both eyes, and toric intraocular lenses implanted.  Went from lots of astigmatism and very nearsighted to almost 20/20.  Kinda strange to not be able to read without glasses now that I have (other then the look two ways at once thing) normal old guy vision minus the cataract haze.

Wow, that sounds like some serious stuff.

I do wish a Quest would work for you - I'm still super excited about Gravity Sketch, and I still want to share it with everyone. I hope you can find a solution - the quest isn't the only option, if a different headset would be better for your situation. There are a lot of options. I will try to get a current list and post it here - the info that I found readily available is out of date.

If you feel like pursuing it, I would recommend finding and joining the Gravity Sketch Discord group. Many high power users, and developers monitor it. If an answer can be had, you'll probably find it there. Actually, I went and found it for you - not sure how the link will work if you are not on discord, but here it is:

https://discord.com/channels/53834640591...3478720513

Hope it helps.

Stan

[MisterAcoustic]

Well - I got an answer to which devices are supported, but it wasn't a list:

"basically any modern VR headset that is either made by Oculus or supports SteamVR"

I'd have to do some research to see which headsets meet those criteria, but at least if someone is factoring Gravity Sketch into a decision about a headset, this should let you figure out if it's supported.

Hope it helps someone.

Stan