Oculus in a blog post has announced that Quill, their VR illustration software used for Dear Angelica, is going to launch as a free beta with the launch of their Touch controllers next month. This adds yet another free application to the lineup Oculus has prepared. Among those, there is also Oculus Medium, which, rather than painting or drawing in 3D, lets users sculpt and model. Both of these free programs look to enable a wide variety of artistic styles.
Speaking of style, Oculus also talked about the design goals for Quill and how it originated. From the blog post: “Quill was born out of the creative needs of Dear Angelica’s Writer/Director Saschka Unseld and Art Director Wesley Allsbrook.” And to get the exact look they wanted, the programmers had to work with artists to make sure the tool itself didn’t impose unnecessary biases in the art. According to Oculus, “it was important that Quill not add anything to an artist’s strokes, unless fully controllable and shapeable by the artist.”
While they haven’t yet the public try Quill for themselves to see its full potential as a tool, Oculus has videos and pictures of a few scenes that artists have created. Most are, and have been, from Dear Angelica, but there’s also some art from Carlos León, which reveals a more
realistic painted style in comparison. We may have yet to see just how far this tool can go in the hands of other artists.
The beta will be free, but there has been no confirmation yet if the full release in early 2017 will be priced or not.
