Destinations •

Valve’s Destinations could be a great software for the next generation of indie game developers.

STATES CHRONICLE – The Destinations Workshop is Valve’s newest software. It is entirely free and addressed to Virtual Reality world creators and artists. Through the Destinations software, users may create, share, and view both 3D models and virtual reality photogrammetry scenes. Valve has created Destinations to be compatible with other existing VR hardware, such as the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive.

Through Destinations, users may travel at their own pace or simply teleport through the virtual world. The aforementioned world can be entirely artificial and user-made or it can be created using photogrammetry procedures.

Photogrammetry is currently commonly achieved with RealityCapture or PhotoScan. Software such as these, are used to accurately recreate the shape and size, texture, and relative position of objects or structures present within the world.

The same tools and technique were used by Valve to previously create “Postcards”, another quite ambitious project which was received with positive reviews and excitement.

The photogrammetry technique is still quite complex however, and not easily accessible to regular novice Virtual Reality enthusiasts. In order to effectively construct or re-create an entire scene in 3D, insight and skill into additional software such as Blender, Maya, or Autodesk ReMake is required.

Anyone could in theory gain up to an intermediate skill level in such software, if they had the time. There are several written and video guides, tutorials, lessons, and walkthroughs present and all one would need is time.

The Destination Workshop is using the Source 2 game engine, which is Valve’s currently majorly used graphics engine and renderer. Valve also set up a Wikipedia page whose end goal is to make the process installing Destinations and using all its features as easily as possible for most apt and interested users.

Several professional projects have already been made ready to view and share on the Destinations Workshop in order to demonstrate the software’s potential and to gain additional popular interest.

Considering the popularity and usage of Valve’s previous software releases made available for free, it is not an entirely outlandish idea to expect interesting applications of Destinations from mod makers as well as indie game developers.

With thousands of useful uses in the areas of education and entertainment, the only big detriment is the current complexity of photogrammetry. However, as Valve demonstrated in the past, if the Destinations Workshop gathers enough interested people, the company may be inclined to invest in the next big virtual technological breakthrough.

Image Courtesy of Steam.

A new Google feature will make it easier for you to plan your trips

STATES CHRONICLE – Google has by far the most popular search engine there is, and people tend to rely on it for any information they might need. Some of the most common searches include cities, plane tickets, routes, hotels and, in general, any other kind of travel related info.

With so many people searching travel information on Google, the company decided to make it easier for us, by developing and now launching a new feature called Destinations. This feature will help users find a destination, a way to travel there and advice on when to depart, as well as suggestions for cheap flights and accommodation.

The feature is, for now, available only on mobile devices. This is not a new application or a new website, but simply an extra feature to the search engine. When a user looks up travel information, Destinations will pop up and give you all the best advice.

For example, if you search for a specific country or a specific city, an option to open “travel guide” will appear. If you don’t know for sure where you want to go and just type “European vacations” you will be shown a grid of all the major cities and how much it would cost you to get there.

Destinations pages have two tabs: one for location info and itineraries and the other one for booking flights and accommodation. The first tab is going to be extremely helpful especially the part with itineraries. It will help you plan your trip more efficiently, without spending too much time in one place and too little in another. How can Google know such things? It uses an algorithm to find out how much time people on vacation usually spend in one place, and based on that you will be advised accordingly.

There will already be 201 cities with available itineraries when the feature is launched. Some of them will have more than one itinerary, planned for short trips of approximately three days. The only thing Google can’t tell you is how exactly you can book transportation if you want to go from one place to another.

The tab that allows you to book plane tickets and hotel rooms is also very helpful, but it doesn’t offer more than Google Flights. However, you cannot book directly from Google Destinations, but you have to go and make your bookings on that company’s website.

All in all, Destinations is a feature that will bring more travel info in the same place, so you won’t have to look up places, plane tickets and hotels separately. It will make it a lot easier for us to plan our trips and itineraries so that we don’t waste too much time on less interesting attractions.

Image source: www.bing.com

VR Worldcrafting Made Easier with The Destinations Workshop, Valve’s New Free Software

Destinations on Google Help You Plan Trips

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