horizon home

Quest Home Spaces Get Node-base Movement, a First Step Toward Upcoming Social Features

April 7, 2022 From roadtovr

Last year Meta announced that it would finally be bring social features to the Quest home environments, allowing users to easily get together in the same virtual space. We aren’t there yet, but the company has taken a first step in that direction by adding node-based locomotion to all of Quest’s home spaces.

Back in October Meta announced that it “soon” planned to upgrade Quest’s home space into a social area where users can congregate together (without a third-party app) and do basic activities like watch videos and launch into other VR apps together. The company calls it ‘Horizon Home’.

Well, the actual social part of Horizon Home isn’t here yet, but the company has taken a first step toward it.

At launch, all Quest home spaces placed the user in one specific spot from which they couldn’t move.

Now, as of at least Quest v38, all home spaces have an array of nodes which users can move between by pointing their controller and using the thumbstick. Moving between nodes with controllerless hand-tracking alone doesn’t seem to work yet.

Ostensibly this will allow multiple users to navigate the same spaces. It isn’t clear how many users will be supported in a single Quest home space (though voice parties currently support up to 8 people).

Quest’s home environments appear to be using typical real-time rendering, so it isn’t clear why Meta has decided to limit users to moving between specific nodes rather than letting them move anywhere within a pre-determined safe area. Especially odd because users can navigate away from any individual node by physically moving within their playspace. Furthermore, the distance between nodes is decidedly ‘impersonal’, and further away than friends hanging out in the same area would likely want to stand.

So while movement within the Quest home spaces is a first step toward social features, it will hopefully see some refinement by the time users are actually able to join each other in the same space.

Horizon Worlds Beta Goes Public In US & Canada With 18+ Age Requirement

December 9, 2021 From uploadvr

After years of waiting, the Horizon Worlds beta is opening to anyone in the US and Canada, with no invite required.

Meta announced the change today, which moves the beta from an invite-only system to a public beta with no invite requirement. Anyone who is in the US and Canada and over 18 can download Horizon Worlds and try it out from today.

UploadVR asked Meta for clarification on how the 18+ age requirement will be verified, to which a spokesperson responded: “When you log into Horizon Worlds with Facebook, you’ll be able to use the app in VR if your age on Facebook is over 18.”

Horizon Worlds is the social hub and creation tool created by Meta as part of the wider Horizon brand, which also includes Horizon Venues and Horizon Workrooms. It was announced all the way back in 2019, then known as Facebook Horizon, and displayed similar social, world-building functionality as VR apps like VRChat and Rec Room.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has emphasized Horizon Worlds’ priority within the company’s VR/AR efforts, hoping it might start the ‘social fabric’ of VR. Likewise, Meta Consulting CTO John Carmack has stated that he wants the next iteration of the company’s annual Connect conference to be held inside Horizon apps.

We first tried Horizon Worlds at Oculus Connect 6 in September 2019. A Closed Alpha began in March 2020, followed by a transition to an invite-only closed beta in August. It was then that we were able to go hands-on with Horizon Worlds for a second time, which left us feeling that the app had good foundation but didn’t necessarily feel like the full picture of Meta’s social VR puzzle.

In October, Meta rebranded Facebook Horizon to Horizon Worlds and announced a $10 million fund to encourage Horizon creators, despite still being in closed beta at the time.

Now, more than two years after it was announced, the beta will be open to those in the US and Canada. There is no word on other regions at the moment, but expect to hear more as the open beta progresses towards (hopefully) a full launch in the future.

Horizon Worlds beta is open to anyone aged 18+ in the United States and Canada from today on the Quest and Rift platforms. Support for the original Quest 1 will end January 13, 2022.

Horizon Workrooms 1.2 Adds Customization, New Themes, Lectern

December 7, 2021 From uploadvr

Horizon Workrooms 1.2 is available now, bringing more customization to rooms and a lectern for easier presenting.

Originally announced back at Connect 2021, the new update lets users upload custom posters and logo graphics to display in the room, as well as pick a room theme.

When Workrooms launched, there was only one room available (the ‘Lakes’ room). Now there are two room locations available, each with two different themes: Lakes – Cabin, Lakes – Vibrant, City – Bright and City – Sleek.

The latter Vibrant and Bright themes feel a bit more casual, while the Sleek and Cabin themes take on a slightly more professional tone, especially the former.

The City room is a nice change of pace from the standard offering, but the view does look a little close to the ‘The World If’ meme skyline for my liking. Nonetheless, you can make it feel a little more homely by uploading custom graphics and decorating the walls.

To upload custom graphic files to Workrooms, you’ll need to ensure that both your Workrooms Quest app and the Oculus Remote Desktop app are updated to version 1.2. Oculus Remote Desktop doesn’t update automatically, so you’ll need to head over to workrooms.com and download the latest version.

Once everything is updated, head to the Room tab in Workrooms in VR, then scroll down until you find the option that lets you customize the room’s graphics. Clicking on the plus icon for each graphic will open a link in the browser of your connected computer, where you can upload the poster and logo graphics.

Once uploaded, apply them to your room and feel a little bit more at home. We managed to get our UploadVR logo into the City – Sleek theme, as pictured above, and it definitely makes the space feel a little more personal.

The last new feature is a lectern, to be used when presenting so that you still have access to your desk area while speaking to the audience.

Will you be customizing your Workrooms environment? Let us know in the comments.

Zuckerberg Announces Facebook Company Rebrand To Meta

October 28, 2021 From uploadvr

Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook’s company title will be renamed to Meta.

Facebook Becomes Meta

The social media platform Facebook will keep its name, as will other company services and apps, while Meta will become the official name for the umbrella company that oversees Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Reality Labs and all its other subsets.

The official announcement follows on from a report from The Verge last week that indicated the change might be incoming and announced officially at Connect.

As we remarked last week, the move is not dissimilar to Google’s 2015 decision to rebrand their company title from Google to Alphabet. This was done to distinguish Google from the search engine and provide a more encompassing name for the umbrella company managing all of its services and products.

For Meta, the new name signals a shift towards the metaverse, which has been a big focus of Facebook’s recent VR/AR efforts and today’s Connect keynote. Currently the company brands its own social VR applications on platforms like the Oculus Quest as ‘Horizon’, including Horizon Home, Horizon Workrooms and Horizon Worlds.

What do you make of the new Meta name? Let us know in the comments below!

Horizon Home Replaces Quest Home, Adding Social Integration & Parties

October 28, 2021 From uploadvr

Announced today at Facebook’s annual Connect conference, Horizon Home will replace Oculus Home on the Oculus Quest platform, bringing new social integration with multiple users.

“Launching soon as an update to the existing Home experience, this is our early vision for your Home in the metaverse,” Facebook explains on the Oculus Blog Connect recap. “A social space where you can bring friends to hang out, watch videos together, or jump into POPULATION: ONE with your squad.”

The ability to build and customize your home environment, akin to the tools available on Oculus Home for Rift on PC, will arrive “in the future” according to Facebook. Customization is on the way, but is “a little further out” than the new social integration features launching soon.

Speaking on a call earlier this week, Facebook’s VP of VR/AR (and 2022’s incoming CTO) Andrew Bosworth discussed how Horizon Home will be the new landing point for any Quest headset, replacing and building on the current Oculus Home system with more features.

“Horizon Home is the first thing you’re gonna see when you put on your Oculus Quest,” he said. “Previously there was Oculus Home when you put it on, but our goal is to actually make it Horizon Home [and] make it more social so you can invite your friends to join you as avatars.”

Facebook did not specify what video services would be supported to “watch a video” with friends in Horizon Home. The promotional video, embedded above, showed support for “Oculus Originals” 360 video experiences and a tab with “Your Media”, which might indicate support for local media files stored on the headset.

Other existing first-party services, like Oculus TV and Facebook Watch, are likely bets as well. However, it remains to be seen whether existing media streaming options (such as using web streaming services through Oculus Browser) will support multiple users in Horizon Home.

Likewise, there was no word on any new partnerships with major third-party content providers, such as Netflix, Disney+ and more, which could provide better and/or native social viewing integration with Horizon Home.

Facebook also announced that, starting later this year, Quest will support Messenger audio calls in VR, allowing you to call your Facebook friends from within your headset.