Globally there is a huge market demand for experiential customer experience. Especially in retail, fashion, and education, the need for immersive experience is skyrocketing. Virtual reality applications today are becoming more of mainstream technology to solve complex business challenges. A recent study revealed the VR industry is going to hit $56.25 billion by 2025.
So, there is no time like now to start developing Virtual reality applications for your businesses. In this blog, let’s discuss the best tools to build your next virtual reality application.
The scope of Virtual Reality Applications
The customer-facing use cases of virtual reality applications are growing high these days. This innovative tech-stack has been thoroughly utilized for building engaging gaming and entertainment environment at the onset. Â The case is different today, virtual reality is a must in many other sectors such as media, education, retail, skill development, IT, manufacturing, healthcare, automobile, and much more.
As Covid-19 contained the market from the customers, virtual reality technologies emerged as a bridge to connect people and businesses. It also solved the critical problem faced by the retail and education industry by providing interactive platforms for both users.
To illustrate, a prominent mattress company approached ZiniosEdge to create an experiential platform to bring the showroom to offer the best shopping experience from home. Our team has worked with the VR best practices and tools to develop the best virtual showroom experience. Plus, in the manufacturing sector, VR has been a promising problem solver by enabling designing and prototyping in virtual environments. So the scope of Virtual reality applications is growing with high potential; all we need is to get it right with our business requirement.
TOP VR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
Based on analyzing multiple client requirements, use cases, and proof of concepts, we have decided to give importance to virtual reality tools suitable for gaming and non-gaming application development equally here.
Unity
Unity is a popular cross-platform virtual reality application development tool. For its intuitive nature, simplicity, and affordability, it is one of the most favorite toolsets among game developers. But, Unity is used across multiple sectors to build VR solutions such as engineering, training, construction, entertainment, automotive, and much more.
Unity comes with a powerful engine to create 3D assets. It offers intuitive toolsets like CAD tools, collaboration tools to artists and designers to shape unique models. Plus, Unity works seamlessly with almost every VR platform as well.
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is the most go-to VR toolset for game development. It is a powerful tool to create high-quality assets. Unreal Engine can be used across any device for its easy optimization with the codes written in C++. Â Also, users have full access to the source code of Unreal Engine so that developers can learn and modify it based on the needs. It offers real-time visual rendering and a flexible editor for developers to create prototypes faster.
Apart from creating games, Unreal Engine is using for developing VR apps by businesses that are offering immersive customer experience through high-quality images and models. Hence businesses with enough resources and expertise always opt for Unreal Engine. The licensing part of this tool is paid, and they have custom licensing options also.
Amazon Sumerian
Amazon Sumerian is an exclusive VR engine from AWS that offers easy VR development without knowing VR programming and 3D graphic designing. It works with android, iOS, and on almost every VR platform such as Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, Lenovo Mirage, Google Daydream, HTC Vive, HTC Vive Pro, and many more.
Above all, Amazon Sumerian has multiple use cases across industries such as retail, sales, education, training, field service, product, and much more. It offers a power editor (Sumerian editor), host (Sumerian host), asset management features, etc.
WebVR
WebVR is the ideal tool for businesses that are planning to offer a VR experience through browsers. It is more of an API built with JavaScript, which requires WebGL to render the 3D assets. Â However, the performance of WebVR is solely based on the browser, the platform, and the VR device. As of now, WebVR is still on its way to reach its perfection. Â
WebVR has its own space in the market. Many industries that are not allowed to offer their service through app stores use WebVR technology to deliver a VR experience. Plus, for prototyping, concept creation WebVR is extensively used across industry sectors.
Bottom Line
Hence, based on the VR experience that businesses need to create, the tool will vary. Users can make use of Unity for almost every commercial requirement. But, if the need for an immersive experience is high, businesses can opt for Unreal Engine, and if VR experience has to deliver via browser, WebVR is the best.Â