7 ms·

LÖVR – A simple Lua framework for rapidly building VR experiences

187 points by siegers 2y ago

dang 2y ago
Related: LÖVR – An open source framework for rapidly building immersive 3D experiences - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28081656 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28081656 - Aug 2021 (122 comments) Show HN: LÖVR – VR framework for Lua - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15177549 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15177549 - Sept 2017 (23 comments)
01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
"Metamour" would have also been acceptable
- TZubiri 2y ago
  Probably built on LOVE, the 2d engine, or at least a homeage
  - ackfoobar 2y ago
    I thought of that when I saw the title. In the README it says it's "heavily inspired by LÖVE". BTW I love the game "not tetris 2".
    - emmanueloga_ 2y ago
      I was wondering about this too. >How is this project related to LÖVE? >LÖVR is heavily inspired by LÖVE and has a similar Lua API, but the 2 projects don't share any code. -- https://lovr.org/docs/FAQ https://lovr.org/docs/FAQ
didip 2y ago
Does this support Apple Vision Pro?
- delusional 2y ago
  From the faq: "Apple Vision Pro is not known to work because it doesn't support OpenXR or Vulkan."
  - wlesieutre 2y ago
    It does support WebXR (featured flag in VisionOS 1, by default in 2) which LOVR looks like it was using https://github.com/bjornbytes/lovr/issues/176#issuecomment-678217025 https://github.com/bjornbytes/lovr/issues/176#issuecomment-6... EDIT - WebXR target was removed from README in July 2023, with commit message "Don't trick people into thinking WebXR is supported right now, and spell macOS better."
- salzig 2y ago
  Maybe not yet https://github.com/bjornbytes/lovr/issues/654 https://github.com/bjornbytes/lovr/issues/654
tasoeur 2y ago
I’ll give it another shot because there’s definitely some really good stuff including hot reload! Last I tried it, there was definitely some missing love (pun intended) in setting it up to compile from source for custom Quest stuff I was working on… when the compilation instructions start with “here be dragons” you know it’s gonna be fun (https://lovr.org/docs/Compiling https://lovr.org/docs/Compiling).
canadiantim 2y ago
Is anyone having success combining generative AI with building VR experiences? Now that would be wildly powerful but I’m sure quite difficult
- wkat4242 2y ago
  I think that would be the key to unlocking the promise of the 'metaverse'. Content generation in 3D is just incredibly labour intensive.
wsc981 2y ago
Somewhat related, I'm trying to convert the Learn OpenGL tutorials [0] to LÖVR [1]. The main goal is to help me (and hopefully others) to understand the changes needed to convert the Open GL shaders to the LÖVR version, as there are some differences. Not all tutorials are completed yet, this is still a work in progress. --- [0]: https://learnopengl.com/ https://learnopengl.com/ [1]: https://github.com/wolf81/lovr-learnopengl https://github.com/wolf81/lovr-learnopengl
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
ilaksh 2y ago
I am most interested in mixed reality these days. Their FAQ mentions getPassthrough which is a start. Didn't see anything about anchors.
geokon 2y ago
How does this compare to something like A-Frame? It feels like all the VR platforms are quite locked down and funneling users to app stores - so if you want something simple and not performant then a framework that works through the browser would in theory get traction more easily Tangentially, I also always quite liked the idea of webpages being VR spaces. Has more of a "metaverse" vibe to it
- dartos 2y ago
  You’d be surprised how standardized the VR world is. At least for pcvr and quest, the OpenXR standard seems to be well adopted
- dale_glass 2y ago
  If you want something not locked down, try ours! -- https://overte.org/ https://overte.org/ We're a non-profit, and our code is entirely under the Apache License. Not only nothing is monetized, but the architecture is extremely monetization-unfriendly, and we ripped out what little there was in the original code. Oddly enough the codebase was built by a company with commercial ambitions (High Fidelity), but unsurprisingly failed to make any money. So we picked that up and are continuing development. So if you want freedom, I believe we're at the top of the list. Everything is open, nothing is centralized. Not even accounts are required. You can just easily set this up on your own hardware with no outside dependencies and do whatever you want.
  - thetoon 2y ago
    Wasn't Vircadia also derived from High Fidelity?
    - dale_glass 2y ago
      Yeah, the line goes High Fidelity -> Vircadia -> Overte (where most devs are) Vircadia started off well, but then the lead decided to go all in on crypto. Pretty much everyone just left and made a new project, while Vircadia as far as I can tell has almost no development going on. Or if there's anything it's not public.
immortalxgr 2y ago
I've been using it for a couple years now and I can't stress enough how easily you can get started for VR, especially compared to "full" engines. And it might be tailored for VR but it's absolutely fine for general 2D/3D as well.
leke 2y ago
Cool! I remember messing around with LÖVE (2D) back in the day. This looks just as awesome, although I'm way too busy to do anything with it at the moment. There is always looming unemployment around the corner though :P
skun007 2y ago
it has been a joy to use it, a lot smaller than any of the alternatives and fast. When plain lua becomes a bottleneck, there is luajit.
wkat4242 2y ago
Wow. This sounds really interesting. I've been trying to learn unity but it's kinda tough especially if you want to make something really cross platform in VR. There's so much boilerplate in terms of libraries that also constantly seem to change so tutorials or books I follow don't seem to match. I wonder if this is powerful enough and easier to learn. Definitely will give it a look. I have some questions though. Is it as performant as unity? Can you import external content as easily? Is there a performance penalty for using Lua? But anyway I guess I won't know till I try it.
- Auracle 2y ago
  I’m shoulder deep in a Unity VR (just Quest 2/3 for now) application and it’s a freaking mess. Just your basic Player object is a tangled tree of ridiculous amounts of different GameObjects. God forbid you want to support hands and controllers.
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    Yes and if you have them in the wrong order in the tree, or a little setting (like an object reference) wrong on one of them it doesn't work right and it's really hard to find out why. Also what each one is actually for. The names are far from clear to me. It's documented but I don't find it very clear. In the end I've started using the Oculus toolkit rather than the openxr one as it was the only one I managed to make work. Some things are implemented weirdly though. Like the fade to black when teleporting, it just draws a black rectangle in front of your face but that doesn't work if you're not looking straight ahead because you can look past the edges of the rectangle. So then I have to go and fix that. I understand everything needs to be flexible, in an engine you can't make assumptions otherwise you can't do things that deviate from the norm. But this seems to be overly complicated to me.

187 points by siegers 2y ago

dang 2y ago

Related: LÖVR – An open source framework for rapidly building immersive 3D experiences - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28081656 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28081656 - Aug 2021 (122 comments) Show HN: LÖVR – VR framework for Lua - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15177549 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15177549 - Sept 2017 (23 comments)

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago

"Metamour" would have also been acceptable

TZubiri 2y ago
Probably built on LOVE, the 2d engine, or at least a homeage
- ackfoobar 2y ago
  I thought of that when I saw the title. In the README it says it's "heavily inspired by LÖVE". BTW I love the game "not tetris 2".
  - emmanueloga_ 2y ago
    I was wondering about this too. >How is this project related to LÖVE? >LÖVR is heavily inspired by LÖVE and has a similar Lua API, but the 2 projects don't share any code. -- https://lovr.org/docs/FAQ https://lovr.org/docs/FAQ

didip 2y ago

Does this support Apple Vision Pro?

delusional 2y ago
From the faq: "Apple Vision Pro is not known to work because it doesn't support OpenXR or Vulkan."
- wlesieutre 2y ago
  It does support WebXR (featured flag in VisionOS 1, by default in 2) which LOVR looks like it was using https://github.com/bjornbytes/lovr/issues/176#issuecomment-678217025 https://github.com/bjornbytes/lovr/issues/176#issuecomment-6... EDIT - WebXR target was removed from README in July 2023, with commit message "Don't trick people into thinking WebXR is supported right now, and spell macOS better."
salzig 2y ago
Maybe not yet https://github.com/bjornbytes/lovr/issues/654 https://github.com/bjornbytes/lovr/issues/654

tasoeur 2y ago

I’ll give it another shot because there’s definitely some really good stuff including hot reload! Last I tried it, there was definitely some missing love (pun intended) in setting it up to compile from source for custom Quest stuff I was working on… when the compilation instructions start with “here be dragons” you know it’s gonna be fun (https://lovr.org/docs/Compiling https://lovr.org/docs/Compiling).

canadiantim 2y ago

Is anyone having success combining generative AI with building VR experiences? Now that would be wildly powerful but I’m sure quite difficult

wkat4242 2y ago
I think that would be the key to unlocking the promise of the 'metaverse'. Content generation in 3D is just incredibly labour intensive.

wsc981 2y ago

Somewhat related, I'm trying to convert the Learn OpenGL tutorials [0] to LÖVR [1]. The main goal is to help me (and hopefully others) to understand the changes needed to convert the Open GL shaders to the LÖVR version, as there are some differences. Not all tutorials are completed yet, this is still a work in progress. --- [0]: https://learnopengl.com/ https://learnopengl.com/ [1]: https://github.com/wolf81/lovr-learnopengl https://github.com/wolf81/lovr-learnopengl

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

ilaksh 2y ago

I am most interested in mixed reality these days. Their FAQ mentions getPassthrough which is a start. Didn't see anything about anchors.

geokon 2y ago

How does this compare to something like A-Frame? It feels like all the VR platforms are quite locked down and funneling users to app stores - so if you want something simple and not performant then a framework that works through the browser would in theory get traction more easily Tangentially, I also always quite liked the idea of webpages being VR spaces. Has more of a "metaverse" vibe to it

dartos 2y ago
You’d be surprised how standardized the VR world is. At least for pcvr and quest, the OpenXR standard seems to be well adopted
dale_glass 2y ago
If you want something not locked down, try ours! -- https://overte.org/ https://overte.org/ We're a non-profit, and our code is entirely under the Apache License. Not only nothing is monetized, but the architecture is extremely monetization-unfriendly, and we ripped out what little there was in the original code. Oddly enough the codebase was built by a company with commercial ambitions (High Fidelity), but unsurprisingly failed to make any money. So we picked that up and are continuing development. So if you want freedom, I believe we're at the top of the list. Everything is open, nothing is centralized. Not even accounts are required. You can just easily set this up on your own hardware with no outside dependencies and do whatever you want.
- thetoon 2y ago
  Wasn't Vircadia also derived from High Fidelity?
  - dale_glass 2y ago
    Yeah, the line goes High Fidelity -> Vircadia -> Overte (where most devs are) Vircadia started off well, but then the lead decided to go all in on crypto. Pretty much everyone just left and made a new project, while Vircadia as far as I can tell has almost no development going on. Or if there's anything it's not public.

immortalxgr 2y ago

I've been using it for a couple years now and I can't stress enough how easily you can get started for VR, especially compared to "full" engines. And it might be tailored for VR but it's absolutely fine for general 2D/3D as well.

leke 2y ago

Cool! I remember messing around with LÖVE (2D) back in the day. This looks just as awesome, although I'm way too busy to do anything with it at the moment. There is always looming unemployment around the corner though :P

skun007 2y ago

it has been a joy to use it, a lot smaller than any of the alternatives and fast. When plain lua becomes a bottleneck, there is luajit.

wkat4242 2y ago

Wow. This sounds really interesting. I've been trying to learn unity but it's kinda tough especially if you want to make something really cross platform in VR. There's so much boilerplate in terms of libraries that also constantly seem to change so tutorials or books I follow don't seem to match. I wonder if this is powerful enough and easier to learn. Definitely will give it a look. I have some questions though. Is it as performant as unity? Can you import external content as easily? Is there a performance penalty for using Lua? But anyway I guess I won't know till I try it.

Auracle 2y ago
I’m shoulder deep in a Unity VR (just Quest 2/3 for now) application and it’s a freaking mess. Just your basic Player object is a tangled tree of ridiculous amounts of different GameObjects. God forbid you want to support hands and controllers.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  Yes and if you have them in the wrong order in the tree, or a little setting (like an object reference) wrong on one of them it doesn't work right and it's really hard to find out why. Also what each one is actually for. The names are far from clear to me. It's documented but I don't find it very clear. In the end I've started using the Oculus toolkit rather than the openxr one as it was the only one I managed to make work. Some things are implemented weirdly though. Like the fade to black when teleporting, it just draws a black rectangle in front of your face but that doesn't work if you're not looking straight ahead because you can look past the edges of the rectangle. So then I have to go and fix that. I understand everything needs to be flexible, in an engine you can't make assumptions otherwise you can't do things that deviate from the norm. But this seems to be overly complicated to me.