The Future of Work Is Now: VR Productivity Apps To Try Out
Introduction:
COVID-19 has accelerated our need to perform remote work. To assist individuals in this new climate, leading-edge technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), are being used as a means to increase collaboration and throughput. Whether you are a small business, large enterprise, or hobbyist, the following VR applications may help you be more productive. The future of work starts now!
Note-Taking / Whiteboarding
Photo Credit: Situated
Why it’s an app to check out: Board VR has 5 colorful markers and a dry eraser to enable a no-nonsense whiteboarding experience. One can also use the app in “dark mode” for longer sessions.
Available: Rift, Rift S
Price: $5.99
Collab Hub
Photo Credit: Collabhub
Why it’s an app to check out: CollabHub allows one to whiteboard free-style or create diagrams using a variety of shapes to choose from. Besides being able to whiteboard against many different scenic environments, this app is great for doing digital scrapbooking!
Available: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index
Price: $8.99
Think Space
Photo Credit: Funly
Why it’s an app to check out: Think Space is perfect for chatting and hanging out (and dressing-up as a fun avatar!) while whiteboarding with friends. One can also open and save files in the app, and export board work as an SVG.
Available: HTC Vive, Valve Index
Price: $6.99
Dry Erase: Infinite Whiteboard
Photo Credit: STEAM
Why it’s an app to check out: Dry Erase Infinite Whiteboard is great for students who want to whiteboard over imported class notes or other images/pdfs inside a VR environment. One can also record the whiteboarding session and share the session and exported boardwork with friends.
Available on: HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, or Valve Index
Price: $9.99
Meetings or Conferences:
Photo credit: Bigscreen VR
Why it’s an app to check out: Bigscreen VR intends to be a social platform to meet friends for hanging-out and watching movies. One can also use it to hold conferences and meetings with up to 12 attendees. Perform desktop-sharing, presentations, and collaborations with others as if everyone is together in-person.
Available on: Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift S, Oculus Go, Valve Index, SteamVR, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality
Price: Free
Photo credit: Alt Space Blog
Why it’s the app to check out: Imagine the ability to hold a digital conference from a VR device. Compared to Bigscreen VR, AltSpace does not have a 12-person capacity. In fact, it’s a fun place to network with friends while participating in games, classes, shows, meetups, and other activities. There’s a bit of a learning curve so take some time to get comfortable before starting.
Available on: Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift/Oculus Rift S, Oculus Go, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality
Price: Free
Photo Credit: Arthur Digital
Why it’s an app to check out: If you imagine what a virtual office space would look like, Arthur is it. Real estate is no longer a limitation to setting up meeting rooms for collaboration. With Arthur, you can set-up rooms for code reviews, ideation, road mapping, design thinking, or hanging-out. Other capabilities include whiteboarding, project management tool integrations, and viewing PDFs or PowerPoint presentations.
Available on: SteamVR
Price: Unavailable. Contact them at team@arthur.digital.
Photo Credit: Rumii
Why it’s an app to check out: Rumii is a VR education and training platform that fosters collaboration and communication. Features include having multiple workspaces and whiteboards. It also has a screen and file sharing (e.g. uploading 3D models) capabilities. It’s great for remote teams, education, and digital nomads.
Available: Oculus Quest, Oculus Go, SteamVR, PC, Mac, Android
Price: $14.99/user/month
Photo Credit: InsiteVR
Why it’s an app to check out: InsiteVR is a VR meeting platform to collaborate on architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) designs and topics. Features include integrations with existing AEC tools, live collaborations, speech-to-text annotations, and PDF meeting report creation with your annotations and screenshots. Both desktop and mobile VR are supported.
Available: Oculus Quest, Oculus Go, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality
Price: Free
Photo credit: Neilda Pacquing
Why it’s an app to check out: Hubs is a VR chat room designed for every headset and browser. It is also an open-source project that explores how communication in mixed reality can come to life. It also has desktop sharing features.
Available on: Any VR headset and browser
Price: Free
Design / Data Visualization
Photo credit: Masterpiece Studio
Why it’s an app to check out: Masterpiece Studio enables creatives without 3D modeling experience to easily create 3D assets for use in animation, gaming, and education. The resolution isn’t as high as ZBrush, but it is 100x easier to use and lets you create 10x faster with a minimal learning curve. It’s the first 3D modeling app to have real-time collaboration to help remote teams work together. It’s also the only app that lets you perform the entire 3D creation pipeline within VR.
Available on: Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S, Valve Index, Steam VR, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality
Price: Pricing available here
Photo credit: Oculus Medium (Now Adobe)
Why it’s an app to check out: Medium is perfect for sculpting, modelling, and painting assets. One can also 3D print creations! Notable capabilities include being able to create models with 300 stamps, snapping and constraint features.
Available on: Oculus Rift
Price: $34.99
Credit: Sketchbox
Why it’s an app to check out: Sketchbox is a great storyboarding tool for AR or VR. Not only is it easy to use, but it can also create simple objects and access the Google poly library.
Available on: Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, Valve Index
Price: Free (Early Access)
Credit: 3Data
Why it’s an app to check out: 3Data allows users to view and monitor critical data sources in one location. The app leverages AI and a seamless interface to present network heath and status effectively.
Available on: Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest, HTC Vive, HTC Vive Pro, HTC Vive Focus, WebXR,
Price: Contact for pricing at https://3data.io/contact/.
