Oculus Quill allows VR artists to paint in space and time

Oculus has developed a new internal tool that allows artists to paint and/or draw in virtual reality (VR). The feature lets users see their creation come to life with every stroke.

The Facebook-owned firm's VR content arm, Oculus Story Studio, developed Quill as part of its new short film Dear Angelica, which showcases one of the characters operating the device to paint in virtual reality. The company announced the launch of the movie at the Sundance film festival in 2015, which is slated to be released sometime later this year.

Oculus Quill provides users with the opportunity to undergo completely immersive, hitherto VR artistic experiences. The feature makes the use of a gesture-based technology system to convert time and 3D space into a virtual 2D canvas for artists and illustrators to be creative.

Although the device has not been made available to the public, Oculus Studio's upcoming movie showcases how the tool can be used and the kind of features one can experience when using it. Wesley Allsbrook, the illustrator for Dear Angelica said that the tool let her "paint in space and time". It was a concept, which so far, "she had dreamt about all my life", according to a report by TechCrunch.

Oculus' latest VR feature could revolutionise the field of performance arts by incorporating time and 3D space into live illustration performances. It follows Medium, the VR firm's existing sculpting tool to become part of the company's list of creatively experimental features.

Maxwell Planck, technical founder of Oculus story Studio has indicated that the company will focus on incorporating cinematography elements like light, sound and camera angles in to their VR systems. With VR technology evolving each day, it will be interesting to see what other experiences developers will be able to bring into the virtual world.