July 3rd, 2024

Show HN: Open Sourcing Our No-Code WebXR Editor After 5 Years of Development

The GitHub URL for Transfer Thought provides setup instructions for the platform, covering cloning, environment setup, Amplify configuration, backend deployment, frontend installation, local running, and AWS deployment. Assistance is available upon request.

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Show HN: Open Sourcing Our No-Code WebXR Editor After 5 Years of Development

The GitHub URL for Transfer Thought contains setup instructions for the Transfer Thought platform. It includes steps on cloning the repository, setting up local environment requirements, configuring Amplify with AWS profile, initializing the Amplify project, deploying backend resources to AWS, installing frontend resources, running the frontend locally, and creating and deploying the frontend to AWS. If additional help is needed for any step or if there are questions, assistance is available upon request.

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By @wkat4242 - 5 months
Considering the no code and training focus I see a bit of an overlap with uptale which is very popular in our enterprise. I'll have a look at it because I'm very interested in what you're doing. I'm sorry it didn't work out but i really applaud the decision to open source as it's great for the VR environment as a whole. It could use some positivity after the collapse of the overhyped "metaverse".

I personally think VR is great tech that has its uses. It's just not for everyone and everything. It never was. The hypers were trying to make it into something it wasn't, or at least something it wasn't ready for in decades (a vision of everyone using it all the time) which harmed the potential of the technology even in the places where it did have a lot of value to add.

By @samspenc - 5 months
Thanks for making this open source! As someone who is a total noob in this space, I see WebXR allows one to create VR applications that run in browser across a variety of VR headsets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebXR

"WebXR Device API is a Web application programming interface (API)[1][2] that describes support for accessing augmented reality and virtual reality devices, such as the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Google Cardboard, HoloLens, Apple Vision Pro, Magic Leap or Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR), in a web browser."

In your experience, does the promise hold true, is WebXR really "write once run anywhere" for the VR space?

By @frankalonso - 5 months
We will continue working on the documentation, there are a lot of features that still need to be highlighted. For example when you edit any scene, you can put /advanced at the end of the URL to access an advanced editor, more like Unity, where you can change the entire structure and tap into the threejs/aframe layer with code. For example, this was a simple basketball scenario I put together in the advanced editor: https://scenario.transferthought.com/apps/7de7c3ca-16a6-4293...
By @nightowl_games - 5 months
Very cool..I worked in VR healthcare training briefly. I'm curious how many employees you had at peak. Sounds like you had some revenue coming in. Congratulations on getting as far as you did. Sounds like it was probably a long and winding road.
By @galeaspablo - 5 months
Thanks for sharing your journey. Did you consider open sourcing earlier? Ie as a means of getting distribution / more customers at the price of giving some value away for free?
By @tlarkworthy - 5 months
Are there any screenshots? edit: ok here https://www.transferthought.com/
By @doctorpangloss - 5 months
Was there ever an alternative to 8thwall for Mobile Safari?