Show HN: Open Sourcing Our No-Code WebXR Editor After 5 Years of Development
github.comTransfer Thought is a No-Code platform that makes it so anyone can build VR apps directly in their browser.
We started this company part-time, building it during commutes to and from work on the train. Over the last 5 years, we've experienced many ups and downs:
- Gained early customers
- Quit our day jobs
- Secured angel funding
- Survived with a short runway
- Accepted into Techstars Chicago
- Survived with a short runway (again)
- Landed our biggest client ever, a Fortune 100 company
- Despite our highest revenue, our burn rate caught up to us
We looked at different ways to wind down the company and ultimately felt open sourcing the platform was the best way to do right by our customers.
Now, anyone who is interested in starting a VR company or just building an app can pick up where we left off. I'm excited about this space, if you need help with a VR app, or want to talk tech, please reach out.
Check out the repo: https://github.com/transferthought/transfer-thought
Contact me at keenan [at] transferthought [dot] com.
Considering the no code and training focus I see a bit of an overlap with uptale which is very popular in our enterprise. I'll have a look at it because I'm very interested in what you're doing. I'm sorry it didn't work out but i really applaud the decision to open source as it's great for the VR environment as a whole. It could use some positivity after the collapse of the overhyped "metaverse".
I personally think VR is great tech that has its uses. It's just not for everyone and everything. It never was. The hypers were trying to make it into something it wasn't, or at least something it wasn't ready for in decades (a vision of everyone using it all the time) which harmed the potential of the technology even in the places where it did have a lot of value to add.
Surprised I have not come across Uptale until right now. From first glance it looks like there is going to be a good amount of overlap.
+1 to it's not for everything. One challenge we faced was teaching customers "when" using VR makes sense.
We will continue working on the documentation, there are a lot of features that still need to be highlighted. For example when you edit any scene, you can put /advanced at the end of the URL to access an advanced editor, more like Unity, where you can change the entire structure and tap into the threejs/aframe layer with code. For example, this was a simple basketball scenario I put together in the advanced editor: https://scenario.transferthought.com/apps/7de7c3ca-16a6-4293...
Thanks for making this open source! As someone who is a total noob in this space, I see WebXR allows one to create VR applications that run in browser across a variety of VR headsets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebXR
"WebXR Device API is a Web application programming interface (API)[1][2] that describes support for accessing augmented reality and virtual reality devices, such as the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Google Cardboard, HoloLens, Apple Vision Pro, Magic Leap or Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR), in a web browser."
In your experience, does the promise hold true, is WebXR really "write once run anywhere" for the VR space?
Apologies for the plug but in case it's of interest I recently did a talk on this very subject at the Augmented World Expo. It covers 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' of WebXR :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZXwV1apu3Q
Great talk! This is an excellent intro into the state of WebXR
Thank you! :-D
Yes, absolutely! WebXR is very powerful in regard to accessibility. After you create an experience it can be viewed across mobile, laptop, and almost any VR headset.
It also makes deployment easier because once you publish, your VR experience is available at a link without any downloads or even embeddable like a YouTube video. With WebXR you can bypass any app stores too or avoid side loading processes.
The downside is you more constrained performance-wise with WebXR and have to keep that in mind during implementation. However the one-click deployment speeds up the feedback loop, allowing for rapid prototyping and more iterative development. For example, I could often build and tweak a VR experience on a call, letting the other person try out those changes by just refreshing their browser.
Very cool..I worked in VR healthcare training briefly. I'm curious how many employees you had at peak. Sounds like you had some revenue coming in. Congratulations on getting as far as you did. Sounds like it was probably a long and winding road.
Thanks for sharing your journey. Did you consider open sourcing earlier? Ie as a means of getting distribution / more customers at the price of giving some value away for free?
Are there any screenshots? edit: ok here https://www.transferthought.com/
Thanks! We will be updating the repo soon with screenshots and additional documentation :)
Was there ever an alternative to 8thwall for Mobile Safari?
At Zappar we're about to release an updated version of our SDK that features scale accurate world tracking for the web, including Mobile Safari and Chrome on Android :-)
Yes but they were generally very small unheard of companies. I’ve worked with some in the past.
Apple keeps making baby steps towards the webxr spec in Safari but it could be many years before we see it finished.