Open Brush
What is Open Brush?
Open Brush began life as Tilt Brush — a critically acclaimed 3D painting application developed by Skillman & Hackett and later acquired by Google. When Google shut down active development in 2021, the Icosa Foundation stepped in, taking the open-sourced codebase and building something better. Open Brush is now a thriving, community-driven evolution of the original, with regular feature additions that go well beyond what Tilt Brush ever offered — all available entirely free.
The core experience is transformative. You stand in a virtual room — or float in space, or paint inside a snow globe — and draw with controllers that become your brushes. Strokes hang in the air around you. You can walk inside your own painting, view it from any angle, scale it down to fit in the palm of your hand or blow it up to fill a room. The 48 brush types range from conventional watercolour and ink to genuinely extraordinary tools: brushes that emit fire, electricity, light tubes, and star fields. Painting in 3D space feels completely unlike anything possible on a flat canvas.
The introductory tutorial gets most students painting within minutes — the learning curve for the basic tools is very low. Beyond that, the depth of features keeps even experienced artists finding new possibilities for months. Finished sketches can be exported in formats including FBX and GLB for use in other software, and shared on the Icosa Gallery platform for the community to explore.
How Well Does It Fit?
Open Brush is the clear standout VR app for Art and Design at every level. KS2 and above get the most from it, though younger students can use it well with teacher support. The free-form, open-ended nature makes it ideal for creative exploration across many subjects — not just Art. It has also been used effectively in Design Technology, Science (molecular models), Geography (landscape sketching), and History (architectural reconstruction).
Beyond the Art Room
Open Brush is most commonly used in Art and Design, but its open canvas works across multiple subjects when teachers think creatively about how to deploy it:
What Are People Saying?
"This is the best VR experience I've had, period. You paint with fire, with light, with stars. You walk inside your own art. Nothing else comes close for pure creative freedom. And it's free. I genuinely don't understand why everyone doesn't have this installed."
"I used it with my Year 8 class for a unit on sculpture and 3D form. The engagement was unlike anything I've seen with a digital tool. Students who barely touch their sketchbooks spent 45 minutes completely absorbed — debating composition, walking around each other's pieces, discussing perspective. The work they produced was genuinely original."
"I use Open Brush for concept art ideation — it's faster to sketch a 3D environment in VR than to build it in any other tool, and the sense of scale you get is invaluable. The multiplayer mode is genuinely useful for collaborative brainstorming sessions with remote clients. Export to GLB works well. The only limitation is that detailed sculpting needs a dedicated app — this is for painting and sketching, not precision modelling."
See It in Action
YouTube has an enormous library of Open Brush and Tilt Brush painting videos — from beginner tutorials to jaw-dropping professional artwork.
How Does It Compare?
48 brush types
Room-scale painting
Multiplayer support
All ages
Realistic oil paint sim
Flat canvas focus
More traditional
Higher skill ceiling
3D design & modelling
Industry used
More technical
Design / DT focus
2.5D canvas painting
Brushwork focused
Less 3D freedom
More accessible
| Platform | Quest, Steam, Pico, Viveport |
| Price | Free |
| Developer | Icosa Foundation |
| Origin | Fork of Google Tilt Brush |
| Subject | Art, Design, cross-curricular |
| Age range | All ages (KS2+ unaided) |
| Brush types | 48 |
| Multiplayer | Yes (v2.10+) |
| Export | FBX, GLB, and more |
| Licence | Open source (Apache 2.0) |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (94%) |