As you’d expect from Facebook, the F8 conference is a highly social themed event with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) both having a big part to play. While VRFocus has covered the big keynote announcements today – Facebook Spaces, ARstudio and Zuckerberg’s cryptic talk about camera’s – there’s been more quietly going on. Oculus has announced the release of React VR, a new library that’ll enable developers to quickly build experiences for VR.
To utilise React VR content creators will need to have an understanding of JavaScript, if they have they can then build and deploy VR experiences using standard web tools. React VR also works with APIs such WebGL and WebVR, allowing head-mounted displays (HMDs) to connect with a scene in a web page.
The software allows users to use React components to compose scenes in 3D, 360-degrees panoramas, 2D UI, text and images can all be combined alongside audio and video.
Oculus has already leveraged React VR for several partnerships to build experiencess. These include:
- The Dubai Tourism board’s Discover Dubai – a treasure hunt game that encourages users to explore all of Dubai in 360.
- USA Today’s tour of Buffalo Trace Distillery, letting viewers navigate the ins and outs of the oldest continuously-operating distillery in the US.
- The British Museum created an exclusive tour the museum, letting users reach out and examine 3D models of their most popular exhibits.
- The New York Times continues to explore news in VR with an exploration of the Antarctic ice shelves with stunning 360 photos and videos.
- Vizor.io demonstrated how easy it is to create interactive 360 experiences that work in browsers and VR headsets with a behind the scenes tour of the Today show.
- Airbnb showed off the flexibility and power of React VR by developing a prototype Airbnb experience in just a few weeks.
Head to the Oculus Developers site to get started, and for further updates on Oculus, keep reading VRFocus.