Build Your Own Virtual Reality Setting With This New Software

Virtual reality has been used to experience everything from iconic artworks to the ancient past. Now you can use it to explore scenes of your own creation. As The Verge reports, the video game company Valve is developing a new tool that allows users to design and share original virtual reality settings.

With "Destinations," designers can build VR locations from stitched-together photographs or 3D models. Interactive and audio elements can also be added in to help bring the otherwise static scenes to life. Once it's finished, users have the option to publish their products to the online games distribution platform Steam, where others may enjoy them.

There are already a few examples of Destinations, like a Martian landscape created with NASA imagery. In another, you can navigate around a massive pile of popcorn that was captured with an iPhone camera. Whether users want to create a world that's real or imagined, the only limit is their creativity. 

The software is still in the development process, but an early access version is currently available to download. If you have access to an HTC Vive or Oculus Rift headset, you can get the tool for free from Steam. 

[h/t The Verge]