HTC has launched Viverse Worlds, a destination for sharing 3D content that is accessible from just a web link.
No downloads are necessary as you explore the Viverse Worlds platform for discovering 3D content. It’s a kind of metaverse where visitors can not only view 3D spaces but interact with them as well, said Andranik Aslanyan, head of growth at HTC Viverse, in an interview with GamesBeat.
With no download necessary, Aslanyan said the content for the spatial computing platform is accessible to just about anyone with a computer.
Just like YouTube did for video, Viverse Worlds makes 3D content easy to discover, access, and embed on any website for any device, he said.
“We’ve gained a lot of creators, and we felt like it was time for us to focus on the actual content,” Aslanyan said. “On the consumer end, we saw a huge variety of different types of content being made, and a lot of requests to support different types of engines and delivery methods. So we’re launching Viverse Worlds. This is all about how we curate content, how people discover it, and honestly, we just want to make 3D content as easy to discover and share as videos are on YouTube.”
He noted that YouTube is the primary content delivery network for video on the internet, and HTC is trying to create the same thing for 3D content.
“Our vision is to bring the immersive internet to everyone, whether it’s creators, businesses, everyday users, no matter what device they’re on,” he said.
The company is leveraging Web XR, which works on desktop, mobile, VR and the open web.
“You don’t have to install anything. Just click on experience and play right away, right in your browser,” he said.
Today, 3D content is fragmented, costly, and confined to closed ecosystems – limiting its full potential. VIiverse Worlds intends to change that, providing a solution to address an e-commerce market that by some estimates is expected to soar to $83.26 trillion by 2030.
As a result, retailers will increasingly adopt 3D product showrooms and render technologies as consumers seek “try before you buy” capabilities and more immersive shopping experiences that drive higher conversion rates. Viverse Worlds breaks through these barriers, providing an open, accessible, and immersive online home for creators to build, share, and explore the next generation of 3D experiences.
“Talented creators are designing impressive interactive 3D content, but it’s not easily consumed or discovered online,” said Aslanyan. “Viverse Worlds streamlines discoverability and 3D content distribution, serving as the hub for immersive 3D experiences. With features like embed, subscribe, and recommendations, Viverse makes it easy for gamers and businesses alike to find, add, and share. The 3D revolution is here, and it’s device agnostic.”
Viverse Worlds’ goes beyond games and avatars, serving solopreneurs to enterprises with 3D manuals, interactive sites, animated displays, Gaussian splats, and immersive e-commerce. In a demo, Aslanyan showed that Gaussian splats in particular can result in being able to view highly detailed imagery.
With Gaussian splatting, you can just use your iPhone and record a video walk around space. And then you can use something like Luma Labs or Polycam and upload your video. It will run through an AI process and deliver it. It’s like millions of floating points of color. You can see and play the playable experiences. You can upload a scene with 20 million polygons, but it will only stream what is necessary.
Viverse Worlds’ intuitive UX enables content discovery, recommendations, and creator follows. Users can subscribe to creators for updates and see all their 3D content in one place. Embedding 3D is effortless—simply copy and paste it into any website as an IFrame, all for free.
High-fidelity 3D powered by polygon streaming
Polygon streaming enables Viverse to deliver 3D models at high fidelity in low bandwidth and low compute scenarios eliminating the technical barriers normally faced by web-based 3D content.
This technology allows anyone to share detailed, immersive 3D models that can be viewed on any device and platform. Previously, displaying high-quality 3D content in WebXR was challenging due to significant computing requirements.
The key innovation is that Polygon Streaming only streams and renders the 3D elements currently visible to users at the currently needed density, making it possible to deliver complex 3D objects and scenes to any device without overwhelming hardware limitations or downloading the entire experience first.
Empowering creators with seamless 3D content
Viverse Worlds is dedicated to web XR and provides creators with a platform to freely host their content. Viverse Create will continue to support its integration with the Sketchfab library, giving Viverse Worlds users easy access to millions of free models without specialized 3D expertise. Creators will not need to re-create or move their content to support Viverse Worlds. You can put anything in your 3D space, like images, posters, videos or your own characters. You can link to web sites and YouTube.
You can create the 3D experience in HTC’s web builder, where there are templates, and you can bring in 3D models like those in the Sketchfab library. You can use Canvas and create interactive 3D experiences. Then you can publish it in one click to Viverse Worlds.
No-code, cross-device interactive creation
Viverse Worlds hosts content created using Viverse Create’s web builder and Viverse Create’s PlayCanvas extension. Announced last year, Viverse Create is a suite of tools that allows creators to build and share interactive multiplayer worlds on any device—VR headset, mobile, PC, or Mac—without requiring code. The “no install” feature allows everyone to enjoy interactive entertainment without a gaming machine.
The potential of UGC
The tech isn’t really aimed at game studios. Rather, it’s aimed at individuals, small teams and creators who want to share their creating. It’s like a tool to show off user-generated content.
As for the uses of Viverse Worlds, Aslanyan said he thinks ecommerce has huge potential. The 3D viewing tech is fast and easy to use. Creators can build something, upload it and sell it easily. And they can leave the content delivery up to HTC. And it’s not just for brands. The UGC creators can also make money.
“When you upload a YouTube video, you can get an embed link to embed it onto your own website. We’re doing the same thing with our product. So you can embed the experience directly onto your own site with a simple link,” he said. “That could be something as simple as like a product visualization.”
He showed me a demo of a virtual suitcase that could be sold on something like Spotify. You can grab it and embed it, link to it, and put it on your wish list. No coding is necessary. You can post a 3D image of an IKEA desk and do a video tutorial on how to assemble it.
I asked whether this was an attempt to revive the metaverse.
He said, “The metaverse was such a buzz word and was used by so many people to raise money. All of their concepts were so high level, future looking and not really super practical. They never asked the question, ‘Why should anyone want to do this? Or what exactly is the experience? And I would say right now, this is kind of like a metaverse but it kind of isn’t.”
It’s more like a UGC platform for 3D experiences. You can share it around. There’s no loading or page refreshing. It has interoperability between different experiences, which is how some people think of the metaverse.
“But it’s not just one coherent master world where everything exists,” he said. “Because in that scenario, it makes it seem like HTC owns the world, and then people just kind of build little, tiny spaces. But on our platform, every single experience that you upload is completely unique. It’s not the same thing as a metaverse, but I think we’re filling the practical gap of what people think of as metaverse experiences.”
Viverse will be at Mobile World Congress in Hall 7, #A40.