Valkyrie Engine lets artists create AR apps without coding
Singapore-based developer Talansoft has released Valkyrie Engine, a new game engine intended to enable 3D artists to create interactive content without coding.
The engine is primarily being pitched at augmented reality experiences for iOS, but can also be used to create desktop apps and games.
Create and publish simple AR apps using a drag-and-drop workflow
According to Talansoft, Valkyrie enables users with “absolutely no software development knowledge” to create AR expriences in “less than 10 minutes”.
The demo on which that claim is based is for a very simple scene with minimal user interaction, but it does illustrate the Valkyrie workflow.
Users begin with a standard project template, then drag and drop 3D assets into the timeline. A set of readymade actions can then be dragged onto each asset from the engine’s Library panel.
3D assets can be imported in OBJ, FBX and Collada format – the latter two being used for animation data as well as models – and textures in JPG, PNG or TGA format.
The engine supports PBR shading via a specular-glossiness workflow and a basic range of light types, plus ambient lighting via baked lightmaps. According to Talansoft, the GI pipeline is optimised for mobile GPUs.
Apps can be exported as Windows executables, or in Valkyrie’s native .vpk format, which can be viewed via We3D, Talansoft’s free iOS player, making it possible to deploy iOS apps without using an IDE like Xcode.
Talansoft’s own in-house engine
Valkyrie is Talansoft’s own in-house 3D engine, used on a “wide array of products ranging from simulators for defence agencies to sophisticated applications across all platforms”.
Clients listed on the company’s corporate profile include Chinese multinationals Alibaba and Tencent: one of the early adopters of the Valkyrie technology, using it for UI interactions of its products.
Pricing and availability
Valkyrie Engine is currently available for Windows only. A macOS version will be released in “Q1 2019”, and will also offer cloud-based shader compilation via Apple’s Metal API.
The engine is avaialable rental-only, starting at $19.99/month for individuals or $89.99/month/seat for indie studios, although that figure goes up if you earn over $100,000/year.
There is also a free watermarked trial licence.