If ZBrush is the
granddaddy of digital
sculpting then Oculus
Medium is going to be
the same for VR. It was
the first voxel-based
modelling program
to appear on the Rift,
launching in late 2016,
and was one of the first
apps to really embrace
the use of the Touch
controllers. With Medium
you spray clay in the air in
front of you and it melds
together, allowing you to
build up form. Add to that
a palette full of creation
tools like inflate, move,
flatten, paint and smooth
and it doesn’t take long
before you are making
some amazing creations.Reviews
Oculus Rift
VR Sculpting
with MediuMOculus Rift
T
wo years on from launch
and the Rift is still going
strong. After early legal
bumps in the road were sorted
Facebook focused on letting
Oculus grow. A price drop
last year helped (now £399
in the UK), and after the late
addition of the intuitive Touch
controllers the Rift is now
rushing headlong to provide its
users with some much-needed
high-end content.
The headsets now being
affordable is one part of
the equation, as you need a
high-end PC to run the Rift on.
Minimum specs have dropped
to an Intel i3-6100 CPU and
now only an Nvidia GTX 960
(it was the 970), but as the
software have become moredemanding you might want
to check that out a little more
closely before committing.
The early development (DK1)
Rift had a tendency to make
people motion sick and any
slow down in performance isn’t
going to improve things.
In the box you get an Oculus
headset (HMD or head-
mounted display), two Touch
controllers, two sensors, all
the required cables, an XBox
controller, an Oculus Remote
and software that depends on
where you buy, but generally
titles include: Robo Recall,
Lu ck y’s Ta le, Quill, Medium,
Dead and Buried and Toybox- a good range of games and
creative tools to get you going.
It has two 2,160 x 1,200 OLED
screens inside the HMD which
is exactly the same as the main
competition, the Vive. This is
one area that will be improved
in the future along with the
field of view which is currently
an adequate 110 degrees.
The setup is very
straightforward. Simply plug
in the HMD (1x HDMI and a
USB) and then the two sensors
(that’s two more USBs) and
follow the on-screen prompts.
Download the Rift software
and it guides you through all
the steps after it checks that all
your hardware is attached and
working. Part of the setup is to
define your work space which
you do by moving a Touch
controller around the perimeter
of your room. Once this hasPRIce £399/$399 |^ cOMPAny Oculus VR |^ WeBsITe http://www.oculus.com
haRdwaRe ReView
the Oculus Rift now features a good range of
creative tools alongside entertaining gamesGlen southern
Glen runs SouthernGFX,
a small Cheshire-based
studio specialising in
character and creature
design. He is a Wacom
Ambassador for the UK
and Ireland.
http://www.southerngfx.co.ukreviews
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