VR an eye-popping new canvas for artists using Tilt Brush
New Google painting app allows artists to create in a virtual world
Virtual reality isn't just for gamers and engineers anymore: visual artists are dabbling with the technology to create eye-popping artworks.
A new VR app called Tilt Brush allows artists and anyone else with a creative streak to paint brilliant three-dimensional drawings and craft virtual sculptures. Created by Google, it is used with HTC's Vive VR equipment.
Artist Olga Nabatova got to try it out when Google commissioned her to create a 3-D rendering of the downtown Toronto skyline for a recent event. Click on the video above to take a tour through the artwork.
"I was so happy. I am in virtual and I want to be here," Nabotova told CBC News.
"I know it is only the beginning and that there are limitations, but they develop new brushes all the time."
To create a piece in Tilt Brush, Nabatova dons a VR headset and picks up two controllers. Inside her VR artscape, one controller becomes a three-sided pallet while the other becomes a brush.
To those watching, she seems to be doing an intricate dance as she guides the controllers though the air.
But in her VR world, each of her movements creates a shimmering brushstroke, chosen from a multitude of three-dimensional forms.
Nabatova normally works in clay, but she said she's now also fallen for VR.
"Tilt brush is amazing in some ways. It gives you options to work very large and create a three-dimensional stage and I really enjoy working there. To do detailed work such as a portrait, I think that is coming, but it is not there yet."
Watch Ron Charles's full report on Tilt Brush on The National Friday night.