re:Invent 2017 – Sumerian: AWS Helps Developers Build VR and 3-D Apps Amazon Web Services (AWS), on Monday, introduced Amazon Sumerian, a new service that allows developers to create apps using virtual reality, augmented reality, and 3-D. Sumerian, which was launched as a preview at the 2017 AWS reInvent conference in Las Vegas this Week, allows developers to create and run 3-D scenes in just minutes. It does not require any programming knowledge or advanced 3-D programming skills. Tara Walker, AWS technical evangelist, outlined some of Sumerian’s features here. They include a Web-based dashboard that guides developers through creating 3-D scenes. Sumerian currently supports FBX, OBJ and OBJ files. However, AWS plans to add Unity support to Sumerian “soon,” Walker said. Sumerian also comes with a pre-built 3-D scene background and objects. This includes a list of “hosts”, which are 3-D characters that can be customized in a variety ways such as gender, appearance, and speech. Integration with AWS’ artificial Intelligence services like Lex and Polly allows users to bring natural language capabilities into their hosts. [Click on the image to see a larger view.] Sumerian dashboard allows users to create their own 3-D “host”. (Source: AWS). Users can customize their scenes with the JavaScript scripting library and Sumerian visual editor. Walker stated that the scripting library can also be used with AWS Lambda, which allows for the full range AWS services. Users can save their scenes to the AWS cloud and have them accessible via a unique URL. The scenes can then be run on any supported virtual reality device (a compatible WebVR browser is required). Sumerian apps can be used with headsets such as the HTC Vive and Oculus, as well as Apple iOS. Support for ARCore is also planned for Android devices. More information about Sumerian, including preview signups, can be found here. More information from AWS reInvent 2017: