meta project cambria

Allegedly Leaked Project Cambria Files Could Reveal Internal Design

June 2, 2022 From roadtovr

Meta is still pretty camera-shy when it comes to showing off Project Cambria, the company’s upcoming high-end VR headset which offers AR passthrough. It’s been intentionally blurred for its few on-screen demos, however now we may have just gotten a look under the hood.

YouTuber and tech analyst Brad Lynch (SadlyItsBradley) released a number of images in a post on his Patreon page which appear to be CAD files of Project Cambria.

Lynch previously released a render of an alleged production version of Cambria back in April, however he says some of those details were misinterpreted. With the leaked files, Lynch says there’s a few key items he’s noticed that are included in the upcoming headset that weren’t previously apparent.

“You may notice a wire on the right side of the device. In one of the pictures its sorta coiled/curved. This is the power delivery wire that connects the battery in the back of the head strap to the HMD up front. It seems that when you adjust the strap to the ‘closest point,’ it will coil automatically. And stretch to be straight when you adjust the opposite way,” Lynch says in the Patreon post.

Lynch notes that on the headset’s left side, a clip attached to the headstrap may be for the USB-C cable that is allegedly bundled with the device.

“This is very similar to how most PC VR HMDs include a plastic clip to run a tether around comfortable their devices. I am shocked they are including this, since I figured they would push the Oculus Air Link method rather than the Oculus (wired) Link method but there it is. Especially from the fact this device is almost certain to include Wifi-6E.”

In the image above you can also make out the adjustment knob for the headset’s strap.

Lynch also posits that a knob on the front of the headset is to dial-in lens distance from the face, or similar to how the comfort dial works on Valve Index.

He also alleges the IPD mechanism is set by “grabbing the lenses themselves and moving them,” as opposed to dialing them in with some sort of wheel mechanism. Unlike Quest 2, Lynch says it offers smooth adjustments between interpupillary distance (IPD) sizes for more precise user comfort.

And what sets Cambria apart from other headsets: Lynch alleges it has two “glacier” cameras on the front left and right, and one “teton” high resolution RGB Camera in the center, the latter of which is used to colorize the monochrome stereo glacier sensors.

A supposed infrared (IR) projector is also there—a small square sitting just above the centrally located RGB sensor—which is said to provide additional depth data for environmental mapping.

Lynch has spent considerable time over the past few months datamining with fellow VR cohorts Basti564 and Samulia to track down rumors and info. Although Lynch doesn’t reveal where this info came from, he maintains its a “large leak.”

Lynch has also included a prediction of specs based on those files and other obtained info. It’s said to feature:

2,160 x 2,160 MiniLED Backlit LCD Panels (2)
Custom Pancake Lenses (2)
16MP Color Camera for Color Passthrough
Eye + Face Tracking (IR Camera based)
Qualcomm XR2+ Gen 1 SoC
12GB LPDDR5 RAM
256GB SSD
WiFi 6E Support
~5000 mAh battery

There’s still no precise launch information yet for Project Cambria, although Meta has gone one record saying it’s slated to be “significantly higher” than $800, making it targeted more squarely at developers and enthusiasts.

Unofficial Render Purports to Show Production Model of Meta’s Next-gen Headset, Project Cambria

April 7, 2022 From roadtovr

YouTuber SadlyItsBradley claims to have seen actual photos of the production model of Meta’s next-gen mixed reality headset, Project Cambria. Though they aren’t sharing the source photos, they worked with a 3D modeler to create a detailed rendering of what the photos showed.

SadlyItsBradley is an XR hardware analyst who has spent considerable time digging deep to track down rumors and info relating to upcoming VR hardware. Recently they claimed that Meta’s upcoming mixed reality headset, currently known as Project Cambria, reached its ‘DVT’ phase which means that it’s nearly ready for production.

SadlyItsBradley also claims to have seen actual photos of the production-ready Project Cambria, and while they couldn’t share the photos themselves, they worked with a 3D modeler Marcus Kane to recreate what was seen in detail. Below are the renders that resulted.

Project Cambria Unofficial Renders

In the video accompanying the renders, Bradley talked about the array of cameras on the headset, including a pod of four sensors hidden underneath the front cover. According to them, the pod contains two cameras and two non-camera sensors which are theorized to be some kind of depth-sensor:

What’s especially notable about the renders is how compact the optics and display housing is compared to current VR headsets. If the renders are fairly accurate, this affirms that Project Cambria is likely moving to a new optics system compared to past headsets (likely a ‘pancake’-style optic).

Some of this info and speculation—and even much of the look of the device—was teased by Meta itself last year. At the time the company said Project Cambria would include “high-res color mixed reality passthrough,” new optics, eye & face tracking, and controllers which do away with the tracking rings (likely moving to on-board inside-out tracking). The company also confirmed that Project Cambria would launch in 2022, though no further details on a release date or price have been announced.

Leaked 3D Model Offers a Clearer Glimpse at Meta’s Project Cambria Headset

November 2, 2021 From roadtovr

Meta (formerly Facebook) announced a mixed reality headset at its Connect 2021 dev conference last week—code named Project Cambria. The company’s official teaser video is supposed to leave a little something to the imagination, however leaked 3D models have surfaced now that seems to show a convincing view of the headset.

Here’s that teaser in case you missed it:

Prior to its unveiling at Connect, a number of leaked videos revealing Project Cambria were posted on Twitter by user Bastian which was reportedly found in the ‘Seacliff’ firmware—ostensibly an internal name designation used by Meta.

If that wasn’t enough, Bastian also uncovered black and white models of Project Cambria, which he has now reconstructed into a full 3D model, rendering the black version within a VR headset for full effect.

In the video you can get a better look at the headset’s strap, which appears to be a bit of a mix between PSVR’s halo strap and the Quest 2 elite strap that both cradles the occipital bone and the forehead.

The reconstructed model also gives us a closer look at the headset’s Touch controllers, which have a noticeable inward slope in comparison to the flat button area in previous Touch designs. Like we’ve seen in previous leaks, the Touch controllers appear to house their own optical sensors, or depth sensors of some sort.

There’s even the model of the charging cradle, which we also saw in the previous how-to promo.

Notably included in the 3D model is the Oculus logo. Meta announced last week that the Oculus naming scheme will be phased out sometime in early 2022, as the Oculus Quest line becomes Meta Quest. This may imply that the Meta rebranding wasn’t known to the Oculus team at the time, or that the model itself was an earlier representation before the name change was internally discussed.

Meta says Project Cambria will launch “next year,” however there’s still no pricing or more precise launch window. Check out the Connect announcement of Project Cambria to learn everything we know about the upcoming headset.