Traditional XR development requires extensive coding skills in areas like 3D graphics, physics simulation and network programming. This poses a high barrier for most non-technical creators, like educators wanting to adopt XR in classrooms, marketers trying to leverage VR for training, or designers seeking to create immersive experiences.
Interest in XR from creative communities grows, but most of them, unsurprisingly, lack the technical know-how of traditional developers. And without no-code platforms that hide the complexities of XR engineering, most creators remain unable to design and publish compelling XR experiences.
No-code XR platforms will turn the tides and empower a whole new generation of non-technical creators by providing high-level creative tools that allow them to visually build and share XR applications without writing any code. By democratizing XR development, we can unleash a wave of innovation from communities outside of traditional tech circles.
Bringing Creative Visions to Life
The no-code XR platforms allow for building experiences through an intuitive interface. Creators assemble experiences by connecting pre-built components — 3D models, animations, sounds, interactions and triggers — all without writing any code. They may support creating experiences in multiple or selected XR formats.
Key features include a comprehensive asset library where creators can upload, organize and manage 3D models, textures, sounds and other media assets. The platform integrates with common tools like 3D modeling software and animation editors, and provides publishing options to deploy experiences as VR/AR/MR mobile applications, browser-based web experiences or directly on XR hardware.
Creators can start simply by exploring pre-defined templates, before customizing experiences to meet their needs. The visual interface hides the underlying complexities of physics, rendering and networking required to create high-fidelity XR. This is a game changer for non-technical creators who can now focus on the design and content of their experiences, bringing their creative visions to life.
What does such a platform typically provide?
Customizable library of 3D object templates — this includes avatars, furniture, animals, vehicles and other virtual objects. Creators can adjust size, color and other properties through an easy visual interface.
Interactive elements and triggers — using a visual workflow, the elements are configurable and able to respond to gestures, gaze, proximity sensors and other inputs without code.
Assets from common 3D modeling tools — which can be animated using visual animation editors that are integrated. This allows building on assets creators already have.
Optimized builds for various XR hardware devices — managing the complex differences in runtimes, APIs and rendering requirements under the hood. Creators just specify the target device and platform.
Preview and test of experiences — directly within the platform by using emulators and simulators for VR, AR and MR devices before publishing, which helps to iteratively refine and improve the experiences.
Analytics and insights — to help creators understand how end users are interacting with and responding to their XR content.
Usability Across Industries
A no-code XR platform enables a wide variety of creative use cases across industries. The customizable nature is perfect for building for any scenario, whether educational platforms with science, history or language classes, or enterprises that need to build a seamless operation of their businesses. Marketers can create VR product visualizations and simulations to showcase their offerings and visual artists can build immersive installations to bring their work to life in spatial and experiential ways.
Training and simulation are a natural fit for a no-code XR solution. Companies can develop interactive VR scenarios to improve employee onboarding, safety training and skills development without requiring programmers on staff. Interior designers, architects and city planners can bring their visions to their clients through AR and VR previews that let customers experience spaces before they are built. Filmmakers and game creators can tap into web-based XR to enhance their storytelling with interactive cinematics.
Benefits of a code-free workflow
The most significant benefit of a no-code XR platform is that it dramatically lowers the barrier to entry for XR development. Creators without any coding skills or technical backgrounds can build XR experiences, which opens up a massive new pool of creative talent from non-technical fields.
A visual, code-free workflow also enables much faster iteration and experimentation. Creators are able to prototype XR ideas quickly and refine them in an agile manner. They no longer have to wait for technical resources to implement each change — they can make modifications themselves in near real-time. Being able to focus solely on the creative and content aspects of their work, the no-code tools allow them to spend more time thinking about user experience, interaction design, aesthetic choices and other factors that define compelling XR.
The Trade-offs
While a no-code platform, creators are constrained to using the pre-built components and templates provided by the platform. They have limited ability to fully customize and tweak low-level aspects of experiences, which means that solutions may lack the finesse and polish of those built entirely from code. The quality then depends on the platform builders and if they are able to provide such “puzzle pieces” that can be used to assemble a great outcome.
The platform’s integration with existing 3D modeling, animation and other creative tools may be imperfect initially. There are often nuances and edge cases that can be difficult for a no-code platform to account for. Performance and optimization tend to be harder to achieve since creators do not have full visibility into and control over how various components are implemented under the hood. Platforms are responsible to optimize pre-built components and generate efficient code for different targets.
More Power and Flexibility with OWNverse No-code
OWNverse as a no-code platform is actively addressing and expanding the capabilities of its XR mechanism. We are in the process of building and growing a library of pre-built components with more interactions, animations, 3D objects and templates, and improving the customizability of components to give creators more flexibility and control over fine details.
We aim to make its integrations with 3D modeling, animation and visualization tools even tighter through deeper APIs and real-time data exchange. This will allow assets created in those tools to work more seamlessly in the platform.
Our platform will be soon launching a two-model offer for businesses: a bespoke virtual space designed entirely by the OWNverse team based on client’s specific needs, and a simple space that will be built based on templates and predefined options. Over time, OWNverse will bring fully customizable and code-free tools for self-service XR development.
Takeaway
The no-code solution allows us to envision XR development not as the exclusive purview of technical specialists, but as a tool that can be harnessed by creative communities across disciplines to transform how we learn, work and live. When all professionals are able to bring their visions to life in XR through an accessible visual interface, the results have the potential to inspire and amaze.
As for OWNverse, the no-code principle continues to improve — supporting more formats, adding richer components and integrating more tightly with existing creative workflows. The next generation of XR experiences may well come not from traditional developers, but from the minds of non-technical creators finally empowered to realize their ideas. The creative potential this unlocks is truly exciting to contemplate.
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