This is VisionPainter, the SNGULAR application for Apple Vision Pro that allows you to paint with your hands in space

SNGULAR has launched VisionPainter its first app for the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality (MR) headset, that allows paint directly with your hands in three-dimensional space, through various tools and brushes that make it possible to make strokes in a simple way to generate all types of drawings and works of art.

Apple presented its viewer Apple Vision Pro in June of last year, when he defined it as “the most advanced consumer electronics device ever created”, which features an interface that can be controlled with your eyes, hands and voice, in addition to integrating a screen with the EyeSight system and the visionOS operating system, created from scratch to reflect the design language of iOS and Mac.

Given the launch of this new device, which presents multiple possibilities both in the world of augmented reality (AR) and in the world of virtual reality (VR), the Spanish technology company SNGULAR decided to undertake a new project to research and test the capabilities of Apple Vision Proexploring the platform and the ‘hardware’.

As a result, SNGULAR has developed its first application for Apple Vision Prowhich he called VisionPainter and with which it offers a three-dimensional painting experience in space, simply by using your hands and fingers to draw lines.

Specifically, as they announced during a presentation event with the press, this ‘app’ is designed for those users looking to create without too much complexity, with an intuitive interface that makes it possible for anyone to make drawings, either professional or for entertainment.

Although its system is simple and consists of convenient tools that do not present a barrier to entryit is a powerful application capable of making any drawing imaginable a reality. Thus, under the motto “art in your hands“, VisionPainter is positioned as the first application that allows a fluid and paint with your hands using the Apple Vision Pro. With this, as the creator of this app and technical director of SNGULAR Studios, Luis Ángel Alda, has highlighted in this regard, this launch positions the company as a “pioneer in the new Apple ecosystem.”

HOW TO DRAW IN VISIONPAINTER

As we could see from Europa Press, its use is very simple. In fact, it is enough bring the thumb and index fingers of the right hand together to begin drawing, forming strokes in the air at will. Additionally, thanks to the headset’s hand tracking technology and the VisionPainter app engine, users Strokes and lines are drawn very fluidly. So much so that, visually, it is something similar to drawing in the physical world.

Another point to highlight is that this application allows create a complex scene in space and that he user moves around or between the different compositions of the drawing.

In addition, When looking at the palms of the hands, two menus appear that allow different options for the drawing in question. Among these options are different brushes to vary the strokes, the possibility of creating all kinds of geometric shapes, a color palette and, including, curious shapes such as dotted splashes, imitation grass or snowflakes.

All these tools allow carry out multiple and varied drawing styles, since it makes it possible, for example, to choose a brush with a wide stroke to give shape, a finer brush to provide details or a line format with geometric shapes.

Quick action options also appear in the menus, for example, to delete the last drawn strokes. Likewise, it also allows save the drawing, view the archive of previous stored works or export the creations.

This last point is very convenient, since the application allows send the file with the drawing to anyone using, for example, an emailto view the artwork on other devices without needing an Apple Vision Pro. However, it allows you to view it on devices with iOS or Mac system, that is, from the Apple environment.

In this way, users can send their three-dimensional drawings to other people to share their art, or transfer them to the computer to finish completing their creations in other 3D editing and design programs. For example, VisionPainter can be useful for sketching and finishing composition in programs like Blender.

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

As Alda explained during the meeting, this project has involved a series of “complex challenges”. Since it is one of the first applications created for visionOS, the development team has had to go through a process of learning and adapting on the fly, especially with the use of technologies like Metal. “There have been surprises along the way, some positive and others not so much, but each challenge has been a learning opportunity,” Alda said in this regard.

Specifically, VisionPainter has been developed with C++ language to, as Alda has detailed, have the total development independence that this programming language provides. “There is nothing comparable to the freedom that comes with low-level programming. You have to keep in mind that everything you see in VisionPainter is procedurally generated in real time, requiring extremely optimized code“, he added.

Likewise, it is completed with the shading and 3D graphics API, Metal, and a self-developed 3D engine, with which the team has achieved reflect that fluidity in the painting movements and the accuracy of the line.

Alda has also pointed out that, for the creation of VisionPainter, supported by a previous similar product from SNGULAR. It’s about the video game CoolPaintr VR, which was released four years ago for PlayStation 4. However, they have had to adapt everything they learned with CoolPaintr VR to a platform in which all interaction is done only with their hands.

In addition to the team of developers, the design team and art of the company so that the interface was simple and easy to use for anyone, as well as the director of SNGULAR Studios, Fernando Rada.

With all this, Rada has highlighted how in the technological scene, from time to time, milestones occur that can entail significant changesas, as has been assessed, is the case of the viewer Apple Vision Pro. In this framework, in an environment that is still in its infancy and that is becoming more and more complex, such as mixed reality, VisionPainter “represents a demonstration of adaptability in the face of change”, stated SNGULAR.