Web 3D Indoor Authoring and VR Exploration via Texture Baking Service

An interactive user-experience with virtual environments of high visual-quality usually demands either authoring tools of movie-industry level and a server farm, or a native application on the client, or both. Conversely, we introduce here a novel 3D workflow, targeting specifically the largest needs of high-quality VR experience. Our workflow architecture incorporates both authoring and navigation of quasi-photorealistic scenes directly on the Web platform, thus including mobile and VR devices, and is specifically addressed to the common use by the street man. No software installation is needed. Both simplified authoring and exploration tools are Three.js based, and are mutually connected by a Web service that automatically produces high quality textures, which include lighting effects, multiple soft shadows, reflections and refractions, by exploiting the Blender's physically-based Cycles render engine.