Apple hires developer of virtual reality painting app amid push into AR/VR

Adding to a growing stable of virtual reality experts, Apple recently hired developer Sterling Crispin, whose app "Cyber Paint" was among the first to take advantage of burgeoning mobile VR headset technology.

Spotted by Variety on Monday, Crispin's LinkedIn profile notes the developer joined Apple in May as a prototyping researcher. While further details are left unreported, it can be assumed that Crispin is continuing work in AR and VR, having served as the sole designer and developer at his eponymous software company since early 2017.

Previously an employee DAQRI, a Los Angeles-based company focusing on industrial AR applications, Crispin is behind popular VR painting app "Cyber Paint." Similar to Google's Tilt Brush, Cyber Paint taps into mobile VR headset technology like Oculus Go, Daydream, GearVR and Vive Focus to allow users to paint 2D artwork on a canvas or in 360-degree space.

Aside from first-party software projects, Crispin also served as a consultant for a variety of AR startups, including "significant SDK development for a head mounted augmented reality device," his LinkedIn profile reads.

Apple's new hire falls in line with rumors that claim the company is working on its own branded VR headset, codenamed T288, and "rOS" operating system. Backed by major investments in a growing team of hardware and software engineers, the rumored VR solution represents a departure from Apple's core product line.

Details are scarce, but previous reports claim Apple is looking to integrate a bevy of cutting edge technology in T288, including high resolution 8K eyepieces and a separate computing unit that connects wirelessly via WiGig. Users could control the unit with Siri voice commands, head gestures and a touch panel, though exact specifications remain fluid ahead of an expected 2020 launch date.

6 Comments

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

About 6 years ago

Ugh. OK for little kids, I guess.

sagan_student 187 comments · 15 Years

SpamSandwich said:

Ugh. OK for little kids, I guess.

I’m thinking differently with this. He’s obviously creative, but his coding skills may not be as well developed as his sense for what he sees he medium capable of doing. Pair him up with Apple resources and see what intuitive views he brings to the end user.

Count me interested. 🤓

mcdave 1927 comments · 19 Years

I thought Cyber Paint was the Atari ST app bought by Autodesk to become Animator in the late 80s/early 90s?.

Rayz2016 6957 comments · 8 Years

SpamSandwich said:

Ugh. OK for little kids, I guess.

Or as Apple calls them:

A customer base that won’t have died of old age in thirty years.

ascii 5930 comments · 19 Years

I quite like the Tilt Brush demo video, showing people painting in the air instead of on a canvas.

But its still the translation of an old art form in to a new medium, rather than a new art form distinct to this medium. I don't know what such a thing would look like, but look forward to seeing it when someone does invent it.