ViRe Devlog

In 2020, TrackLab [YouTube], a developer, 3D animator, and friend of mine, floated the idea of using a VR setup for motion capture in 3D animation.

Over several years, encompassing several weeks of actual productivity and a lot of downtime, we built that idea as a Unity application called ViRe.

During development, I maintained a devlog on Twitter, which, with the platform’s demise, I have now migrated to this blog.

The first two days of the log were posted to TrackLab’s now-defunct Twitter and so have been lost.

Work on the project continued after the last tweet, but I lost interest in writing the devlog.

2022-11-20#

Steppin’ on up to the next update for ViRe; just finished implementing procedural walking for users without motion trackers, like on the Oculus Quest 2!

2022-09-07#

We finally got enough cash for me to rent an Oculus Quest 2 and work on some bugs in ViRe. Fun is being had by all, I assure you!

2021-07-09#

SteamVR on an Android phone using CardboardVR? What could possibly go wrong?

2021-06-06#

So, the very secret 3D modeling project /w TrackLab(s) is finally out in Alpha. I present to you - ViRe!

As a bit of a milestone tracking thing, the Alpha version was developed in about 27 days.

That is, if the development were day in and day out, with absolutely no delays.

2021-04-26#

You thought it was dead, and so did I (kinda); it is not, what a rhyme! The “3D modeling thing” /w TrackLab(s) is back!!

Days 14-16 had some minor edits, but 16-20 had massive ones, including a full refactor of a core system. All of that, to bring fully working controls & more!

Sorry about dumping so many days into 1 short update, but with the project timeline being messed up, things were hard to track. From now on, updates should become more regular as we get close to an Alpha version!

2020-10-01#

So, remember this “actively developed” project? Well, the reason it’s been on ice this long - those darn controllers. VR accessories are a mess of implementation uncertainty that we’ve come to despise. That + other things = we… ran out of steam, but project != dead!

2020-06-09#

Day 12/13 of a completely obvious 3D modeling application /w TrackLab(s) features DEMS GREFICS. Close to the final stretch of the project. Soon we’ll be working on making the placeholder controllers less fake.

2020-05-22#

Day 8 of a 3D modeling dance party /w TrackLab(s) comes with even more code, woot!

Since this code isn’t sexy, here’s a small bit made with that code. The Vive Controllers are placeholders, this isn’t VR… yet

2020-05-20#

Day 7 of the 3D modeling “Coding boot camp” /w TrackLab(s) is led again by code and our inability to write it. While no stupid mistakes this time, there was a lot of jank and frustration. We’ll have to get better at it soon, our very project depends on it!

A C-sharp coroutine tutorial code snippet

2020-05-19#

22 days since we paused work on our 3D modeling thing with TrackLab(s) because of a C-sharp code error we couldn’t spot. While I still don’t get what a “Preprocessor Symbol” is, I’m glad we can get back on track soon.

Thanks, GitHub and Reddit people