The most recent creation by the digital artist is titled Realms of Flow, which incorporates interactive and playful components for the very first time.
You start by selecting from a variety of calming virtual reality experiences. In “Timeless Being,” you glide over a tranquil ocean at sunrise; in “Calm Amidst the Storm,” you observe a thunderstorm during nighttime; and in “Capacity,” you soar through the sparkling cosmos.
There is also an AI-generated scene created using Stable Diffusion and other tools: “Starry Blankets” evokes the sounds and lights of a childhood Christmas, with the ever-changing landscape creating a mesmerizing effect.
A spherical soundscape or soft piano tones accompany these VR experiences, which are some of the most visually stunning I have seen with a VR headset. The Youtube videos below do not do it justice.
There are numerous features for meditation and options for customization.
I was taken aback by the fact that the visuals were captured in 180-degree videos, with a resolution of 6K, stereoscopic effect, and a frame rate of 60fps. The image quality is so exceptional that it made me believe they were actual real-time animations.
Realms of Flow currently provides ten scenes of this nature, and two additional ones will be included in December to finalize the VR application. Several of the VR panoramic views are complemented by English and German voice-overs that create an atmospheric experience. These scenes revolve around themes like childhood, curiosity, and mindfulness, and can be deactivated if preferred.
You can customize almost nearly aspect of your Realms of Flow experience. | Bild: Marc Zimmermann / Epicscapes
I mentioned the interactive elements above. Realms of Flow offers a plethora of features and settings to help you meditate and customize your VR experience. You can display visual aids for your breathing technique, move your arms to the rhythm of your breath, make humming sounds that are amplified, and more. There are even gamey elements.
I don’t have much experience with meditation, so I simply enjoy the visuals and music without utilizing these features. How you choose to use Realms of Flow is completely up to you: whether it’s for pure visual and auditory pleasure, as a source of inspiration and tranquility, or as an advanced tool for meditation.
The visuals are striking, even on Meta Quest 2.
Marc Zimmermann describes Realms of Flow as a VR app designed to inspire, evoke emotions, and create interesting, soothing, or meaningful states of mind that enrich your palette of being. I use Realms of Flow more and more and find that there is no better way to describe the effect of this VR app.
I tested Realms of Flow with Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3. The main difference is that the scenes look even clearer with the new VR headset, thanks to the pancake lenses. With Quest 3, you can also set the sampling resolution to 300 percent for maximum image quality and still have a perfectly smooth experience, Zimmermann tells me. In the future, he plans to experiment with 8K video to see if it runs smoothly on Quest 3.
There are also upcoming VR experiences in the pipeline that are expected to be offered as downloadable content (DLC).
Realms of Flow is available for purchase on both the App Lab and Steam platforms. The cost of the game is $15. For more details and to stay informed about Realms of Flow, you can join Marc Zimmermann’s Discord server.
