NeuroVR Editor, Built in Blender

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support16.jpgAs we all know, Blender is open for customization as it is open-source. Rarely though do we actually see any projects customizing Blender much, but here is one example: NeuroVR editor.

NeuroVR editor is an application that allows one to do virtual reality scenes. It is made with architectural visualization in mind, and the application is quite different from what we’re used to seeing in Blender, especially regarding the much simpler user interface.

Go to NeuroVR.org to download NeuroVR (free registration required) and read more about it.

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    • grafixsuz

      Looks interesting. Don’t have the time now to try but I definitely give it a go soon. Gotta love the open source scene, it just opens the way for soo much. Great work guys.

    • http://Whatweneed Tobias

      I just created an account, logged in and downloaded the 170MB NeuroVR Editor ZIP file just to discover that it’s just a Windows program. Is there any Linux version?

    • oto

      Windows only?

    • Roger

      Nice catch Mathias! It’s a very nice application. It won’t really help me with my architectural projects, it’s not that useful since you’re stuck to the rules of the application and I’m not sure I like the graphics enough. Nevertheless, very useful if you’re new with VR or don’t have the time to make all kind of alpha textures like people and food. (You can pick up food in the program but I haven’t figured out the use of it.)

    • Aligorith

      This is an interesting application of Blender. A 170mb zip-archive containing just an executable is a bit excessive though, unless it is targeted for release on cd/dvd.

    • Roger

      Oh, I see. You can pick up food and stuff becouse you can put it on a table. Very handy…

      The appartment scene is very cool and the doors open automatically and you can open kitchen cupboard doors and stuff. It gives a really nice idea of what the appartment would look like in real life.

      The editor is really nice but since I’m used to the standard Blender-way-of-modelling and stuff, not very handy for my individually, but I can see it being very handy for loads of guys. It also has a pretty large library of 2d and 3d models to place in the scene wich you can rotate and position and scale and stuff. Very cool.

      A must-try if you’re new to Blender or new to the Game engine.

    • Sanne

      Looks nice, but I’m on Linux also, and can’t test. Would love to try. But… if it’s a customized Blender, shouldn’t the source be available? Did anybody who created an account see anything about the source?

      Or is this game engine output without the blender player, an so, not required to provide source?

    • Aussiedude

      Extremely off topic comment (sorry):

      I was wondering: Say for example if I was in a job interview at … err… well I’m in Australia so Fox Studios:Animal Logic… and they ask me “What experience do I have in 3D modeling and animation, have I worked with 3D Max?”…. if I say “No I haven’t used 3D Max but I have competent skills in Blender” what will the interviewer say?

      Will he be like: “Wow thats great, blender is a lot harder to use than 3D Max because you have to have a real understanding of CG to make the same effects that can be done automatically by the 3D Max software, YOUR HIRED!”

      or will he be like: “Blender? um…….. good for you, OK, bye, NEXT!”

      … Cause I can get my hands on 3D Max and could use and learn it and get quite good at it if I want and all that… But i really more than anything was wondering if it’s worth the time and effort, cause if most 3D apps are the same and blender gives a CG artist ample experience and no need to also learn 3D Max then I want bother…. but if a employer is going to demand that I know 3D Max (or some other industry standard app like Maya) then I will need to know an industry standard not just blender.

      PS:NeuroVR sounds great, maybe future fps games with inbuilt level editors should include a version of blender, but make the conditions of using it like… er…. must develop at least 2 new features for Blender before using it in a game/app. Blender would grow mighty fast then eh? ;)

    • http://Whatweneed Tobias

      > Did anybody who created an account see anything about the source?

      I was not able to find the code. Even in the 170MB download are just some Windows setups.

    • Lekane

      didn’t bother download after reading the comments here.. but the guy’s head on front page is quite funny xD

    • Lekane

      “The NeuroVR Editor is built using Python scripts that create a custom graphical user interface (GUI) for Blender. The Python-based GUI allows to hide all the richness and complexity of the Blender suite, so to expose only the controls needed to customize existing scenes and to create the proper files to be viewed in the player.”

    • Genscher

      yellow:

      you have no idea. You should e.g. take a visit to the wikipedia entry of blender where it also mentiones that Blender was used in the toolchain of producing several Hoolywood movies .

      It’s like this: If you apply for a job, the company is not interested if you worked with blender, maya or 3dmax. The skill is important. You won’t abe able to make good models in maya if you can’t do it in blender.

      Genscher

    • http://Whatweneed Tobias

      I’ve installed it with wine and it looks like a blender 2.41 with some Python scrips and it starts with this BAT file:

      @echo off
      blender\blender.exe -p 100 100 800 600 -W “%CD%\td.blend” >NeuroVREditor.log 2>&1

    • http://membres.lycos.fr/bobois/ IamInnocent

      There is a downloadable manual that’d answer most of these questions. Read it and you’ll know that it NeuroVR *is* OpenSource and that the code is available: maybe just ask? When I download and install software on my Linux box it’s only binaries and I still have to hunt for the sources most of the time or at least they are in a separate package. I’ll ask but this is Sunday everywhere I guess.

      Consider that for 170 MB you get a lot of art and tha the licence for it is not known ATM. I’ll ask about that too.

      Also, the point of NeuroVR is to develop immersive therapy. It’s incidence on using it as we do Blender can only be marginal. Even implications on archiviz are side effects. It’s usefulness as demoing the VR potential of Blender is what I am the most grateful for.

      I don’t have a Windows machinge ready to try this but I guess that the right file extracted after installation of NeuroVR on Windows could work on Linux through Wine.

      Jean

    • http://membres.lycos.fr/bobois/index_anglais.html IamInnocent

      It appears that there is no need for any other source than what’s already in the installation: Blender (we know where the sources of that are) and a set of Python scripts, all GPLd.

      Jean

    • Sanne

      IamInnocent, thanks for the clarifications regarding the sources.

    • Oskar

      Where did they post their GPL’ed python scripts and other stuff, for those of us who don’t use Windows? It seems you need to install from the .exe before you can extract the necessary files…

    • Francisco Ortiz

      “but if a employer is going to demand that I know 3D Max”

      Job? Employer? Whats that? Does it still exists?

      Hey iam wrong! There is a job! You can be a virtual waiter inside NeuroVR:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAy8bfvUYLc

    • http://membres.lycos.fr/bobois/index_anglais.html IamInnocent

      Oscar:
      supposing that you are using Linux or close enough…

      Create a folder somewhere you like, use wine to start NeuroVR_setup.exe, browse to that folder when asked. I had to start that browsing from the root (/) folder and ended up with z:\home\jean\NeuroVR. Cancel the creation of a shortcut icon of course when asked.
      Then you’ll find the scripts in the …NeuroVREditor/Modules and …NeuroVREditor/Modules/Interface the scripts in question.

      I was successful in using the NeuroVREditor with wine like this:
      ~/NeuroVR/NeuroVREditor$ wine Blender/blender.exe -p 100 100 800 600 -W “td.blend”
      Of course the path will differ if you ‘install’ NeuroVR in a different folder than I have.

      Have fun.

      Jean

    • http://membres.lycos.fr/bobois/index_anglais.html IamInnocent

      Aussiedude:
      ask your question on the News and Discussions forum at http://blenderartists.org/forum/index.php tomorrow, when it’ll be back online. You could make a search prior since this is a common question but the situation has evolved a lot IMHO in the last year and new perspectives could be offered that weren’t possible just a year ago.
      Yellow is right about knowing about other apps. Nevertheless it is simply impossible to know them all: Max, Maya, Lightwave, XSI, Houdini, Cinema4D… and the specialized ones like Modo, Zbrush…: what is needed is the possibility to learn fast: the more experience you’ll have with different apps the less you’ll get specific habits and the faster you’ll learn new programs or add-ons to the ones you already use.
      Blender is an excellent place to start from though. From my own experience, let me tell you that I learned Blender in 2001-2002. With that single knowledge in 3D I was able in 2002 to learn enough Rhino3D in 2 weeks to earn quite a good living afterward.
      Also, people coming from the other apps have, quite often, problems using Blender. Our program is an up and coming one, rest assured of that. You’ll have a heads up if you know Blender… would it be just to work on a NeuroVR project ;)

      Jean

    • Hexa

      This looks great. Downloading right now. Adding new stuff seems to be easy, too. Does anybody know if we add complete new environments ?

    • http://membres.lycos.fr/bobois/index_anglais.html IamInnocent

      Hexa:
      the answer is yes with the caveat that the objects to include have to be modeled the hard way in Blender or, at least imported. They must be on per file and each .blend file must end with an .o3D extension.
      But this is all in the manual except for the question of importing models into Blender. I wrote to them about that. It might help them to increase their user base if everyone can use a modeler of their choice or ready-made models.

      Jean

    • Hexa

      IamInnocent:
      Thanks for your effort to provide these infos. Just finished downloading. Will go and play now.

    • http://membres.lycos.fr/bobois/index_anglais.html IamInnocent

      You’re welcome Hexa,

      but it just so happens that the subject is of interest to me on at least two aspects: the VR application of Blender and the techniques Kino used to simplify the interface.
      I wish that I could understand why wine won’t run NeuroVREditor for me if I install in the fake C:\ volume while it does when I bypass it and install in z:\ …

      Well, I guess that I am still a bit green at that Linux stuff…

      Jean

    • Aussiedude

      Thanks everyone for your advice. I’ve decided that I will learn as many *different* programs as possible (IamInnocent’s advice, thanks mate) and concentrate on learning skills and not software specific methods (Genscher’s words “The skill is important.”).

      Thanks it mates me feel better. :)

      PS: Genscher why did you think my name was ‘yellow’? o well.

    • http://home.deds.nl/~mp/ ysvry

      “Conclusions. It is envisioned that the 250,000 people worldwide Blender user community will contribute to extend the NeuroVR library, developing new virtual environments which can be tailored by professionals for a range of clinical and experimental applications. ” I made a church that’s free for download maybe they can use it for people who suffer church fobia :P

    • http://home.deds.nl/~mp/ ysvry

      btw I know max , xsi, blender and a whole lot more and the more use them the more u see that underlying technick is the same, they just give every thing there own name quite anoiying if you switch program and look for that specific funtion in the helpfile.

    • http://lokidg.blogspot.com Tiago

      quite amazing !!! I love it !!!

    • JoOngle

      Funky!

      It’s like counter-strike without the strike! :o)

    • http://www.zsouthboy.com Chris (zsouthboy)

      I added a bugmenot entry for neurovr.org, for those who don’t want to bother registering.

    • epat

      Just another wonderful example of the power and flexibility of blenders builtin python interpreter and interfacing modules – it reminds me a bit of (the old) makehuman lol!!
      -epat! :)

    • epat

      hmm – don’t much like their site though – they could be clearer about the blender part of it and they definately should have a privacy policy or at least make some reference as to where your data goes when you register. I’m gonna use the bugmenot entry (if it’s still available) – I don’t trust them… lol
      -epat. :)

      PS: sorry – I know I’m double posting…

    • epat

      Look at this quote from the license upon installing:
      “The first component is Copyright © of the Blender Foundation; to see a copy of its license visit this web link: _ ”
      Does that happen for other people too – if so, I think somebody should take it up with them – it ought to be fixed!!
      They should at least provide a link there…
      Anyway, I’m picking bones (and posting far too many times) so I’ll just go away and erm… sorta die – before I’m mutilated to death first by the swarms of over-zealous forum and comment *rule enforcers* that don’t understand the reasons or spirit behind forum etiquette and aren’t bothered by it anyway but just would prefer to see me banned, hung from a tree and shot down – OK, maybe that’s overkill lol (come on though – everybodies gotta rant sometimes!! ;)
      -epat. :P

    • Tomaz Saraiva

      Hi

      How can i change the .blend extension to .o3D?

      I just can’t do it

      Thanks

    • http://www.tvina.euwww.neurovr.org Cinzia (TVina Rayna on SL)

      Hi everybody, I am working in ATNP Lab, the creators of >NeuroVR. The Virtual Reality Media Park in Turin developed for us the software.
      We created the idea of a free sofware to be custumized and used in psychological therapies.
      We tried our best with the resources we had, and the results are not satisfatory yet.
      It’s good because it’s easy to use but there are a lots of problems with stability.
      It will be great to add new scenes and 3d objects…

      We look for any kind of help you could give us.

      It was a surprise for us to know that it can work on Linux!!!!

      I know that the developers didn’t give to the public the source code and this was not in our intentions.
      I think that the editor is avaiable but not the player.

      If somebody is in the position to “build” another player PLS get in touch with me!!!

      As you can understand we ARE NOT SOFWARE DEVELOPERS, we are psychologists with a VISION:
      giving a tool for using VR to other psychologists to research about the possibility to use VR for HEALING.

      Let me know if are willing (and in the poosition ) to help.

      thanks in advance

      cinzia