Immersive Planetarium Art Show Guides Visitors Around a Virtual Universe

If you remember virtual reality apps are designed just for gaming, call back again. VR headsets are more accessible than ever before thanks to products like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or Sony PlayStation VR. Developers are creating VR apps that deliver fantastic experiences, from playing immersive video games to exploring landmarks in stunning 360° environments.

If you lot're looking for inspiration for new apps to try with your VR headset, we've put together a few recommendations. Read on to find out more nigh our favorite VR apps available right now.

Further reading

• Best iPhone apps
• Best Android apps
• Best VR headset

Google Expeditions (free)

Travel is one of the joys of globalization, opening up countless avenues of experience and culture to people who, a century ago, wouldn't take had access to them. Travel can also exist expensive, however, and dreadful for the surroundings. Rather than fly out to Everest to stand in line behind a cavalcade of wealthy tourists employing sherpas to carry them upward the mountain in search of a killer selfie, why not take a trip in Google's Expeditions app? Expeditions offers VR tours of iconic landmarks similar Mount Everest or Teotihuacan, besides as educational tours built around subjects similar the recycling industry or even the anatomy of man pare. The 360-degree images involved are intensely detailed. While Expeditions can't capture the aura of ancient ruins or towering mountains, it does provide fantabulous learning experiences that won't gobble upwards your travel upkeep or pump carbon into the atmosphere.

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Google

Allumette (gratuitous)

Penrose Studios' free-to-play, terminate-motion VR film experience chronicling the story of a young daughter in a deject-borne village is absolutely scenic. InAllumette, you human activity as the camera, exploring the gorgeously drawn world however you lot please — fifty-fifty ignoring the main storyline, if y'all and then desire. Brand no mistake: This is a narrative, non a game. Though none of the characters inAllumette actually speak, per se, the forms of communication they do utilize (emotive,Sims-like noises, generally) practice an effective chore of conveying emotion and intent.

The story itself — based loosely upon a poem by Hans Christian Andersen– is both charming and heartrending, though we won't spoil too much hither. Few VR experiences create the same sense of weight and presence for the viewer, and in Allumette, you'll truly feel like you've been transported into a storybook world. The xx-minute runtime is an eternity in comparison to most narrative-based VR experiences — few even reach the x-infinitesimal mark — simply Penrose CEO and founder Eugene Chung considers virtual and augmented reality to exist the time to come of storytelling, and pushing boundaries is the but mode to intermission paradigms.Allumette lies somewhere in the murky realm between filmic narrative and video games, merely somehow it rises above genre as a simply divine feel.

If you lot enjoyed Allumette and yous have access to an Oculus Rift,Henry is also worth checking out.

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Steam Oculus

Colosse (free)

Top-notch sound blueprint and wonderful,Samurai Jack-esque animation are the driving forces backsideColosse, a short-story VR experience that responds to the rooted actor'due south gaze, moving the narrative frontward seamlessly. Described by developer Burn down Panda as a "real-time virtual reality storytelling experience,"Colosse revels in its sense of calibration, with clever details throughout. For case, the "hunter" character is rendered at just 12 frames per 2nd, while the rest of the film is in sixty, contributing to its unique atmosphere.

Audio and visual cues directly the player's gaze, and certain objects "wait" to activate until you look at them, which provides a natural sense of pace. Certain events volition occur depending upon the direction y'all're facing, so y'all'll never be stuck searching for the next piece of the puzzle. Originally designed as a demo for the Oculus Mobile VRJam,Colosse isn't quite equally fleshed out equallyAllumette, simply information technology's certainly a sight to behold, and a fun display of the ways VR tin change storytelling. Oh, and it's gratis.

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Steam Oculus

Titans of Infinite Plus ($ten)

When you expect upwardly at the night sky and gaze into the vastness of the universe, marveling at the infinite zip and everything of creation, time, and space, you're probably wondering…did someone make a VR app for this? Yous're in luck because they did!

Titans of Space is an immersive journey through the planets and moons of our solar arrangement. Information technology is a highly educational app merely don't allow that deter or bore you. Flying through the cosmos on your VR headset is as heady every bit information technology is informative. Y'all'll exist taken through guided educational activities, but are also complimentary to drift through the stars performing your own EVA (Extravehicular Activeness). Bet y'all didn't remember learning nigh Saturns 82 moons could be fun? Well, it is.

Take a journeying with your "Flying Professor" bout guide as you experiment with the gravitational pull of different planets. You'll analyze each planet with radar, topographic maps, and more. Explore the wonders of our solar arrangement from the comfort of your living room.

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Steam Oculus Google Play Store

Google World VR (free)

When VR began to bloom as an entertainment medium, one of our showtime thoughts was: "Google Earth is going to be super freaking cool." Turns out, we were correct. Flying around the planet similar some kind of hypersonic hawkeye is both enjoyable and educational, at least if you happen to like geography. And even if y'all don't, yous can still utilise the quick-nav menu to visit landmark sites similar the Sphinx or the Gold Gate Span or pay a digital visit to the capital of Djibouti.

Unsurprisingly, lots of landscapes and areas appear to exist niggling more than than colorful smudges (particularly if you lot're using Google Cardboard), merely it's a gratuitous app, so what are you lot gonna practice? Zooming across vast distances in a affair of seconds and descending upon mammoth structures like the Hoover Dam is exhilarating, even if you tin can't brand out the individual cars driving beyond it. Chances are, you've used Google Globe before, so you lot know the drill. Information technology only gets more fun in virtual reality; just don't expect too much item.

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Steam Oculus Google Play Shop

Kingspray Graffiti VR ($fifteen)

Ever fancied yourself a street artist? No, non like the guy who paints himself aureate and stands still for several hours. Atrue street artist — remember Banksy or Shepard Fairey, scaling freeway overpasses and windy rooftops to unleash your inner Rembrandt for urban passersby to capeesh (or scoff at, equally the instance may be). InKingspray, you can (legally) live out those dreams, using (virtual) spray paint to make your marker on one of five digital walls, from laboratories to rooftops.

Whether y'all adopt to tag alleyway walls or train cars,Kingspray features realistic drip and spray effects, consummate with different can caps and pressures to fully customize your masterpiece. You lot can load up images and project them onto paint surfaces to human action every bit stencils, save 360-degree screen captures, and even paint online with up to 3 friends. What more could you lot want? Oh, yeah, in truthful VR style, you can pick up loose objects like bricks and bottles to throw at each other. Damn, information technology feels good to be a gangsta.

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Steam Oculus

Littlstar (free)

Using your VR headset to picket content from Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube is fun. It's similar having your own personal IMAX movie theater to visit whatsoever time you want, without dropping obscene amounts of money on popcorn and cookie dough bites. Littlstar VR Cinema changes the game by offering a total library of 360-caste videos designed to brand you feel like yous're the cameraman. Whether you'd adopt to educate yourself about the state of Nepal post-earthquake or simply jam out to some music videos, Littlstar provides a point of view that you lot only tin can't get anywhere else.

There'south Broadway theater content, sports content, and content for kids, making this ane of the best VR experiences out there. It'due south also absolutely costless. The user interface is smoother on some platforms than information technology is on others — looking at you, Rift — simply that's a minor complaint. If you're the creative type, you can even picture show and upload your own 360-degree content for others to view and enjoy.

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Steam Oculus

Ocean Rift ($x)

The open ocean is a terrifying yet wondrous identify, and its total depths are on brandish inBody of water Rift. The experience is akin to an African safari, except you lot're free to roam wherever you please — and you're underwater, of form. Explore any of the 12 huge open habitats at your leisure, observing marine wild fauna that includes dolphins, manatees, sharks, and more. Caput toward the surface to cavort with body of water turtles, or dive into deeper waters to encounter more unsafe — and potentially deadly — animals.

If yous want to only sit back and lookout man the fish pass you past,Ocean Rift tin can exist a calming, therapeutic experience. If you'd prefer to explore the game to its fullest, it can almost become a survival horror game with a few surprises up its watery sleeve. Little touches, like the outline of a diving mask around the screen's edges, help to brand this a truly memorable experience. If you don't want to pay for the full experience, check out the Gear VR demo here.

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Oculus

The Foo Bear witness (gratuitous)

Of all the fantastical possibilities that the commercialization of virtual reality affords, talk shows are extremely depression on the list. After all, who really wants to step into the shoes of an audience fellow member onOprah, without even receiving a free gift?

As it turns out, though, it can be cool. The Foo Show — hosted past Tested co-founder Will Smith, aka Foo — is technically a talk show, but it'south and so much more than that. The show, funded via Kickstarter and powered by motion-capture, features a digitized Smith speaking with digitized guests virtually games and tech culture.

Y'all might exist wondering: "Why is this in VR?" That'south a good question! The coolest thing aboutThe Foo Showis its creative utilise of VR to transport viewers directly into the game environments that are being discussed onscreen. For example, the first episode (technically, Episode 0) transports viewers into the watchtower fromFirewatch, where yous tin can walk around, examine your environs, and collaborate with objects, all while enjoying insightful commentary. The following episode depicts Smith interviewing Blendo Games' Brendon Chung about hacker-puzzle gameQuadrilateral Cowboy, with part of the interview taking place in i of the game's environments. Frankly, we're not certain what kind of schedule the bear witness will adhere to — if whatever — but it'due south a artistic concept that gamers should love.

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Steam Oculus

Tilt Brush ($xx)

If y'all're not the artsy type,Tilt Brush might surprise you lot. Using the move sensors for the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift Touch controllers, the app allows you to "pigment" in a three-dimensional space to create admittedly stunning works of fine art, in any color imaginable. The motion controls are surprisingly accurate, and the digital medium means you lot tin can only go back to delete whatsoever mistakes y'all might take made. Fifty-fifty if you're non naturally creative, Tilt Castorwill bring out a new side of you.

In improver to painting, you can add cool effects like sparkling stars or smoke trails to accentuate elements of your painting. The Oculus Rift version boasts a cool "preview" feature, but the app is every bit enjoyable on either platform. Currently, Google (the creator) has chosen not to bring Tilt Brushto PSVR, citing a lack of precision in the tracking software. If yous ain a Vive or Rift, though, you admittedly accept to goTilt Brush. For at present, it's i of the all-time VR experiences out there, introducing an entirely new artistic medium for creatives and non-creatives alike to bask.

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Steam Oculus

Virtual Desktop ($14+)

Platforms: HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, OSVR

Have y'all ever fantasized nigh navigating your computer in virtual reality, like that episode ofThe Fairly Odd Parents where Timmy actually goes inside the internet? Neither have we. If that sounds interesting, though, boy, do nosotros accept some good news for you!Virtual Desktoplets you use your computer in VR, whether you're browsing the spider web, watching Netflix, or playing games. Hell, you can even manage spreadsheets in VR, though nosotros call up that might be more than of a hindrance than anything.

The app works well with multiple-monitor setups, and using your headset to swivel back and forth between screens is pretty cool.

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Steam Oculus

Inside (complimentary)

Within provides a platform to view amazing content from VR creators across the world, from crazy on-track fantasy rides to 360-caste music videos. New experiences are added regularly, including a thirteen-minute, 360-degree video based on the striking Television showMr. Robot, to entertain and educate yous in the near immersive manner possible. View content from news outlets like NBC, Apple tree, the New York Times, and Vice Media, likewise as musical groups and motion picture studios.

The Possible , a video series from the Within team, explores technology through the lens of your VR headset. Each episode brilliantly touches on dissimilar tech-centric topics, like hovercrafts and robotic dogs. The show is directed by David Gelb ( Chef's Tabular array ), and new episodes are released regularly. If you lot don't download Within , you're doing yourself a disservice for a few reasons, least of all that the app is gratis. Then, even if some of the electric current content doesn't pique your interest, the available library is only going to get bigger over time. Video quality varies slightly, and it seems like the animated content is smoother than the live-action content. But that'southward no reason to deny yourself the Inside experience (especially when it is costless!).

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Steam Oculus Google Play Store

Fulldive VR (gratuitous, with in-app purchases)

Fulldive VR calls itself a "Social All-in-One VR Platform" that promises an immersive mobile VR feel for everyone. Gamers can browse VR content from many different sources on the Fulldive platform, and the social aspect includes the ability to share content with your friends. The game besides happens to be uniform with Google Cardboard, and so accessing it is incredibly piece of cake. You tin can download the Fulldive VR app through Google Play or the App Store.

The app's 3D interface lets yous scan menus, arrange settings, and view your friends' lists. As with many Cardboard apps, yous can expect at a particular icon in gild to navigate. It includes a "Trending" category to become you lot started, but Fulldive takes a unique approach to sorting content. In addition to the "Trending" category, you can as well search for other themes similar "Cute" or "Scary," though you'll find that the themes are pretty subjective.

The content itself comes from a broad swath of sources, including The New York Times and Discovery. You lot can spring from a short, CGI moving picture in which they flee a giant squid to first-person documentary footage of elephants in Fulldive, making it an first-class resource for keeping a broad selection of VR content at your fingertips. If you're new to VR, you might detect the platform's interface difficult to navigate, but you can larn it with some fourth dimension and do. Your effort will pay off in the long run.

Download now from:

Google Play Shop

Editors' Recommendations

• Kokomo is a new social VR platform from Canon
• Apple tree'due south AR headset could now come up with 3 immersive displays
• How to connect an Oculus Quest 2 to a PC
• HTC's leaked Vive Flow headset might offer portable VR
• We merely learned an important spec about Apple tree's upcoming VR headset

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Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/virtual-reality/best-virtual-reality-apps/

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