Google Opens Up VR Creativity: Blocks Goes Open Source

During the VR boom of 2016-2017, Google launched a series of applications, including the VR painting app Tilt Brush, the VR modeling tool Blocks, and the 3D model sharing platform Poly. However, with the decline of the VR craze, Google ceased updates for these applications around 2018. According to reports from MIXED and UploadVR, Google has recently open-sourced Blocks, and the Icosa Foundation will develop Open Blocks based on this source code.

The Icosa Foundation also maintains Open Brush, one of the branches following the open-sourcing of Tilt Brush. They stated that while they were initially told it was impossible to open-source Blocks when Tilt Brush was made open-source, they reconnected with members of the original Blocks development team earlier this year and received Google’s approval to release the source code.

The Icosa Foundation elaborated on their forthcoming efforts in a document: “Over the coming months, we’ll be working hard to bring the Open Blocks codebase up to modern standards. First up, we’ll be switching to use the OpenXR framework and new input system within Unity, enabling us to target Open Blocks for a much wider range of XR devices. At that point, we will be aiming to create a standalone XR port, and bring Open Blocks to the Quest and Pico platforms. Along the way, there will be plenty of opportunity to add immersive XR features such as MR passthrough.”

Additionally, Open Blocks will incorporate glTF import support, more basic shapes, an enhanced color palette, and support for the Icosa Gallery, which serves as a replacement for Poly.

Open Blocks will soon be available on Steam, but interested users can also visit GitHub to download the pre-release version.