Studio Syro, an indie VR animation studio, released the first installment of their short film series called Tales from Soda Island yesterday. Built entirely in Oculus Quill, the series kicks off with one of the most charming VR experiences you’ve probably ever seen.

The first episode is called ‘The Multiverse Bakery’, and is now available on Oculus Quest via the Oculus TV app and ‘Quill Theater’ in the Quill app on Rift. A second episode is said to arrive soon.

The sub 10-minute short mashes up 3D animation—created in the Quill creation app—and brings it to life with spatial audio and special effects.

The story follows a curious character called ‘The Baker’ who is busy assembling all sorts of ingredients for something special.

Without spoiling the story further, suffice it to say Studio Syro has taken many of the hard-won VR design concepts and applied it to Tales From Soda Island. Transitions are cinematic without being immersion-breaking, intense visuals deftly grab your attention, and audio (best with headphones) makes this short feel like a living, breathing world.

Syro is also known for creating official music videos for deadmau5 & Mr. Bill – 10.8 and Slushii – Dreaming of You / Far Away.

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“The creative process is way more efficient and fun than traditional workflows,” artist Dan Franke says in an Oculus blog post. “In Quill, you can jump straight into doodling a character in 3D space and designing a scene with easy and super fast iterations. The duplication workflow also speeds up the process a whole lot. With the modeled assets, you can freely move in the space and search for interesting angles, where to place the viewer. But other than designing a composition for the traditional 2D output in VR, you have to be mindful of space and build the scene all around the viewer.”

Quill is a 3D creation tool that lets you physically paint or sculpt in VR. Since its release in 2016, it’s been a creation platform for loads of talented artists, however thanks an update in early 2018 that lets you animate 3D VR paintings, its attracted even more talent.

Thanks to the publishing platforms Oculus TV on Quest and Quill Theater on Rift, you can watch high-quality animated experiences from creators; we suggest checking out the work of Goro Fujita, Daniel Martin Peixe, Liz Edwards, and Nikolai Lockertsen for a start.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.

  • So I went to the “Quill Theater” page… it’s a Quest app, not a Rift app…

    • Morgan Spiritz

      In the above comment, they said you can still watch it on the Rift. Download Quill, and inside is a “Quill Theater” player and you will find it there.

  • sfmike

    Watched this this night and was blown away. If you have a Quest watch this video! It’s free so what do you have to loose? The artist’s use of the medium is mind blowing. Can’t wait for the next chapter. I would pay for quality animation like this.

  • Daniel Martin Peixe

    You can watch it on Rift, but you need to download Quill, the free art creation app where this short was made. Inside of Quill there is a “Quill theater” player and there you’ll find “The Multiverse Bakery” and also a lot of other VR animated experiences !

  • Yes damn it, it seemed like you simply inlined the thing as a YouTube video, but it’s not a YouTube 3D thing, it drags Quill and whatever Rift is behind it. Perhaps you should shoot straight with that kind of thing! It’s like reviewing the Marvelous Miss Maisel VR without saying it’s a kind of bluetooth game controller for extemporaneous art (having just made up the licensebound product here, that is.)

  • martin

    just watched it, what a phenomenal short! plenty of “wow!” moments within it.