Peter Ariet

Quill

3 min read

Quill

Quill

VR Illustration & Animation Tool | Developed by Smoothstep (formerly Meta/Oculus)

What is Quill?

Quill is a revolutionary VR illustration and animation tool that empowers creators to tell immersive stories directly in virtual reality. Originally developed by Oculus (now Meta) and currently maintained by Smoothstep, Quill has become the industry-standard tool for creating hand-painted VR experiences and animations.

Unlike traditional 2D animation software, Quill allows artists to paint and animate in three-dimensional space, creating artwork that viewers can step inside and explore from any angle. This spatial approach to storytelling has opened up entirely new possibilities for narrative experiences in VR.

Key Features

Illustration & Painting

Quill is designed to let the artist’s “hand” come through clearly — whether that’s a watercolor style, pencil style, oil painting style, or other creative look. Artists can paint with expressive brushstrokes that exist in 3D space, creating immersive environments and characters.

Animation Timeline

With Quill’s Animation Timeline feature, storytellers can:

  • Sequence narratives and create complex story arcs
  • Synchronize animations to sound and music
  • Create smooth transitions between scenes
  • Animate individual brush strokes for unique visual effects

Production Tool

While Quill enables artists to create finished illustrations, experiences, and animated stories, it’s also ideal for:

  • Pre-visualization: Blocking out scenes before final production
  • Concept Design: Exploring ideas in 3D space
  • Storyboarding: Creating immersive storyboards
  • Set Design: Designing virtual environments
  • Early-stage Decision Making: Making important creative decisions early in production, saving time on iterations

Quill at Studio Syro

At Studio Syro, Quill is the primary tool used to create all of our VR animated experiences. Every project — from the whimsical worlds of Tales from Soda Island to the emotional journey of The Art of Change and the haunting beauty of Reimagined Volume I: Nyssa — is hand-painted entirely in Quill.

This workflow allows us to:

  • Maintain artistic consistency across all projects with a distinctive hand-crafted aesthetic
  • Work natively in VR from concept to final delivery
  • Iterate quickly on ideas and scenes
  • Create truly immersive experiences that take full advantage of the VR medium

Studio Syro’s Quill Projects

Animated Experiences:

All of these projects showcase the unique capabilities of Quill, from its expressive painting tools to its powerful animation timeline, demonstrating how VR-native creation tools can produce world-class animated content.

Why Quill Matters

Quill represents a fundamental shift in how animated content can be created. By working directly in VR, artists can:

  • Think spatially from the very beginning of the creative process
  • Design for the medium rather than adapting 2D workflows
  • Create more efficiently by eliminating the traditional pipeline of modeling, texturing, rigging, and rendering
  • Maintain artistic vision throughout the entire production process

The tool has democratized VR content creation, allowing small teams and individual artists to create feature-quality animated experiences that would traditionally require large studios and extensive resources.

Learn More

  • Official Website: quill.art
  • Features: quill.art/features
  • Community: Quill has an active community of artists creating everything from short films to interactive experiences

All Studio Syro projects are created using Quill, showcasing the tool’s capabilities for professional VR animation production.

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