Meta launches new Metaverse avatars

Image: Meta

In development for a long time, they are finally rolling out: new avatars for Metas Metaverse.

Meta’s VR platform has seen many avatars come and go. The first generation dates from 2016 and the latest was introduced in 2019.

Since spring 2021, Meta has been testing a new generation of avatars in its own social apps Oculus Venues and Horizon Worlds as well as with selected VR studios.

Now he’s fallen official starting signal, which means that all Unity developers can now integrate the new avatars into their VR applications, whether for the Oculus Store or the App Lab. They are compatible with Quest, Rift and Windows Mixed Reality devices.

A quintillion combinations

Since spring, Meta has tweaked the avatars, making them more realistic and expanded customization options. Particular attention has been paid to diversity. After all, as many users as possible should be able to create a representative alter ego. Currently, according to Meta, there are a quintillion possible combinations of outfits and physical attributes.

The old Oculus avatars looked less comical, but also more sinister. | Image: Meta

With the official launch of “Meta Avatars” (previous generations were still called “Oculus Avatars”), virtual characters should appear in more and more VR games, especially those with a multiplayer mode. Because the implementation has a number of advantages for developers.

On the one hand, VR studios spare themselves the development of their own avatar system. On the other hand, the new avatars are adapted to Meta’s VR platform and use hand and controller tracking as well as microphone input to record in real time. facial expressions as believable as possible create. AI algorithms help interpret the data.

The future of meta avatars

With Meta’s upcoming VR glasses, which are being developed under the codename Cambria, artificial intelligence should have less to invent. Finally, the device supports eye and face tracking for particularly expressive avatars. Cambria will be released in 2022.

Metas codec avatars are still in the future. Photorealistic alter egos are Mark Zuckerberg’s ultimate goal and one day they will be realistic telepresence with VR and AR glasses. The video below shows a codec avatar in action.

The production of such avatars is currently extremely complex: users must go to a specialized photo studio and have them scanned in 3D. In the future, smartphone photos and AI magic should be enough to create deceptively real human images for the metaverse.

More information about meta avatars can be found in the official documentation.

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