Once again decided to experiment with the VR this week, this time trying two new apps although both this time were paid apps. The apps in question were Gravity Sketch and Masterpiece VR. In both cases I didn’t have too long to experiment with them so the below are just my initial impressions.
Starting with gravity sketch, the first thing I found was that the app seems to be very powerful and with that comes a complex set of controls. This is an app you would need to spend some time with to properly get to grips with it before being able to confidently use it. I found myself quickly able to draw various shapes and models reasonably easily however I think trying to make a larger product from these shapes would take me a greater among of time. I particularly like the tool that allowed me to extrude a shape. I found myself quickly making the body for chess pieces, something which isn’t quite as easy to do when you are limited to primitive shapes as you are in some other apps I have tried. I can see this app having great potential in Design Technology lessons in particular.
Masterpiece VR, I felt, wasn’t quite as powerful in terms of the tools available when compared with Gravity sketch however as a result it has an easier user interface to get to grips with. I was quickly working with virtual clay and making a sculpture. I could easily edit my sculpture cutting sections away or moulding areas to suit my needs much in the same way I would envisage you would work with real clay. Note: I have little experience of working with clay sculptures so I may be totally wrong on that point. Now I do not attest to being an artist in any shape or form, however I was easily able to create the start of a basic sculpture. As such I believe this app could easily be used by students in art lessons to develop much more impressive creations than anything I might be able to achieve. This is definitely an app where experimentation could be encouraged without the need for significant training in advance.
In both of the above apps the tools are provided to help students get to grips with the ability to create within a 3D virtual space. As this kind of working becomes more common within the creative, the design and the entertainment industries I think it is useful to introduce students during their format education.
Technology and Learning