Animation’s come a long way since its inception. From the once-upon-a-time industry standard of cels and hand-drawn backgrounds, to today’s oversaturated reality of cartoonishly three-dimensional CGI, animation has evolved in a multitude of ways. And it’s all because of one simple thing: technology. Once technology advanced enough to create 3D-constructed animation, plain old 2D was nearly abandoned by the Western world (even though it still flourishes in Japan). In Tvori, a new creation platform, crafting animation makes another huge technological step: to VR.
Tvori, on its surface, seems a lot like TiltBrush, another art-creation application for the HTC Vive. But Tvori does have one immense difference when compared to TiltBrush—it can make actual animations. Tvori’s schtick is implemented naturally, via an in-game camcorder that can be moved around the environment, and paint-like brushes to hand draw the characters in the unique world. With the camera, the player can re-angle shots without the tediousness of re-creating an entire scene. Everything is changeable with the mere drag and drop of the Vive controller.
Animating a project is more streamlined than ever before
The layout of the VR sandbox in Tvori is simple. There’s drawers that the player can pull open, with manageable items at their disposal. As with other VR creation platforms, the player can drag and drop and resize items to their advantage. And in Tvori, the player can move a virtual camera around to get that perfect shot for their animation. Gone are the days of tediously drawing or animating multiple shots entirely, because in Tvori, the experience is made seamless. Everything is customizable in the room’s space—from the individual animations, to the items, to the camera angle—which makes animating a project potentially more streamlined than ever before.
Tvori is being developed by Russia-based developers Dmitry Kurilchenko and Viktor Komarovskih. The project’s title even stems from the word “create” in Slavic languages, in potentially one of the most apt names in accordance with a project’s mission statement, ever. “The ultimate plan is to create a platform for people that need to express an idea in 3D without complicated tools,” said Kurilchenko in an interview with UploadVR. Uncomplicated, fully-interactive animation. Finally the ability to create your very own animations and art, but for the non-animation savvy folks.
Tvori is currently planned for a beta launch on Steam in August.
