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Facebook To Hire 10,000 Across The EU In Metaverse Push

From uploadvr

Facebook today announced plans to hire 10,000 people across the European Union over the next five years to work on its take on the metaverse.

The social networking giant announced as much in a new blog post authored by Nick Clegg, VP Global Affairs, and Javier Olivan, VP Central Products. New details about exactly what Facebook’s interpretation of the metaverse will be were not revealed, but the company said it would work with governments to “find the right people and the right markets” for the recruitment drive.

Facebook’s Metaverse Team Expanding

The metaverse is a broad term used to describe a virtual online environment where people could meet up as digital reflections of themselves and interact with others.

Currently, Facebook has several such experiences on its Oculus Quest platform. In August it launched Horizon Workrooms, allowing VR and non-VR users to meet in virtual offices to collaborate. Work also continues of the recently rebranded Horizon Worlds, which lets users make their own VR experiences with others.

In July, Facebook announced it was setting up a “Metaverse product group”. We speculated on what exactly that means right here. Around the same time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook would be a “metaverse company” in the next five years.

“No one company will own and operate the metaverse,” today’s blog post reads. “Like the internet, its key feature will be its openness and interoperability. Bringing this to life will take collaboration and cooperation across companies, developers, creators and policymakers.”

Next week sees Facebook host its annual Connect developer conference for VR and AR technologies. We’ll be bringing you all the latest on the company’s announcements at the show.

Watch: VRWorkout Devs Share Foot Tracking Test Using Quest And Mobile Phone

From uploadvr

The developers behind VRWorkout, the hand tracking workout experience that released on Quest last year, shared a new video showing progress on providing foot tracking on Quest using just the headset and a mobile phone.

The demonstration points to how the devs could expand VRWorkout beyond just hand tracking to include different types of workout routines that can incorporate and track more parts of your body.

The video shows the user completing a workout in a beta version of the app on Quest, where hand exercises are supplemented with a section that requires the user to stand on one foot and move the other to hit the approaching marks. It’s a bit like Beat Saber, but without the techno music and you’re using your feet.

It’s worth noting that the exercise shown in the video is purely a test and not indicative of what a finalized version would look like that. For now, this is just a proof-of-concept to show how the concept could function. Of course, it’s still an interesting demo because it’s all done with equipment you should already have, provided you own a Quest. There’s no PC required — it just uses the Quest headset and a phone set up across the room, which communicates with the app and is used for the feet tracking data using the phone’s cameras to track the feet as they move. The phone uses purely the on-board cameras too — there’s no iPhone Pro LiDAR or similar at work here.

So while this is just a concept for now — and we’ve seen some other interesting uses for feet-tracking — we’ll be curious to see how quickly this kind of system might evolve.

You can read more about VRWorkout here or download the app (without foot tracking, for now) via App Lab for Quest. A PC VR version is also available on Steam, but will require either a hand tracking-enabled headset or attaching the controllers to your wrists.

FitXR Adds Six Accessible, Seated Workout Classes Through November

From uploadvr

FitXR is adding new seated workout classes to its release schedule for the rest of the year, with the aim of making VR workouts more accessible for those who may not be able to complete the standing portions of the exercises.

Currently, all classes in the Box Studio provide a seated option, which removes the squat feature. However, these new seated classes aim to expand accessibility options by providing seated classes in the HIIT and Dance studios, which FitXR hopes will “enable users with varying degrees of mobility to enjoy fun, engaging workouts.”

The six classes will gradually release from now through to November, and FitXR says it will continue to add more seated content “on a regular basis” in the future. Here’s a summary of the release schedule for the accessible seated classes over the next few months:

– September 26: Brain Boost (Seated, HIIT Studio, Beginner, Electronic, 9 minutes)

– October 3: Out of Breath (Seated, HIIT Studio, Intermediate, Electronic, 14 minutes)

– October 15:  Upper Body Sweat (Seated, Dance Studio, Beginner, Pop, 10 minutes)

– October 21 : Short & Sweaty (Seated, HIIT Studio, Beginner, Rock, 9 minutes)

– October 31: Rock It Out (Seated, HIIT Studio, Intermediate, Rock, 11 minutes)

– November 7: Burnin’ Up (Seated, HIIT Studio, Intermediate, Electronic, 12 minutes)

These new classes come off the back of some big new additions and changes to FitXR over the last year. In April, the app switched to a subscription pricing model, while also adding real-time multiplayer and HIIT workouts (which, as listed above, are now being adapted into seated variations). In July, FitXR partnered with record labels to bring some big name artists, like Calvin Harris and Tiesto, to your virtual workouts.

FitXR is available now for Oculus Quest headsets via the Oculus Store. To learn more about designing VR workouts, check out our interview from August with FitXR’s Head of Fitness Ianthe Mellors.

Facebook Horizon Workrooms Adds Remote Desktop Support For Apple M1 Macs

From uploadvr

Facebook Horizon Workrooms added support for Apple’s M1 Mac computers, which should allow users to bring the latest Macbook Pro, Air and Mac Mini models into Workrooms via remote desktop software.

Facebook launched Horizon Workrooms last month, allowing Quest 2 users to work and collaborate remotely with other users in a virtual boardroom. The app supports bringing your computer into VR via remote desktop software installed on your PC or Mac, which streams your desktop view to a virtual screen at your seat in Workrooms. You can control your computer either via a cut-out of the passthrough view displaying your desk or with a tracked keyboard represented virtually on your Workrooms desk, available for select supported models.

The Oculus Remote Desktop software required for Workrooms integration launched with support for Windows and Mac computers, but did not support the latest line of Macs using Apple’s new M1 chip. This new line of Macbook Pro, Air and Mac Mini features custom silicon designed by Apple, which has underlying architectural differences from previous models.

Previously, Facebook said M1 support was being worked on and should arrive within a month or so. Now, the update is available and allows M1 Macs to be used in Facebook Workrooms via remote desktop with ease. The software download page confirms the update, encouraging M1 users experiencing difficulty running or install Oculus Remote Desktop to redownload the software and try again with the new version.

We tested out Oculus Remote Desktop on an M1 Macbook Pro earlier today and can confirm that installation went smoothly and the computer appeared in Workrooms with no hiccups. The Macbook Pro and Air keyboards can also be tracked natively by the Quest, allowing you to use a virtual representation of your keyboard in VR that matches your laptop keyboard’s position in real life.

You can read more about Workrooms here and download the Oculus Remote Desktop software here.

Oculus Quest Pro? Everything We Know About Facebook’s Next VR Headset

From uploadvr

Hints from Facebook higher-ups and references in Oculus firmware suggest an Oculus Quest Pro standalone VR headset is in development.

But what exactly is Quest Pro? What new features and improvements will it have compared with the current Oculus Quest 2? No specific details are certain yet, but here’s what we know so far:

Quest Pro Is A Thing, But Not Launching In 2021

The first indication of “Quest Pro” came in a February Instagram ask-me-anything (AMA) session hosted by VP Facebook Reality Labs Andrew Bosworth.

One questioner asked Bosworth: “Why can’t Oculus make a 600$ headset and put the best specs like Quest Pro 3 etc plz.”

He replied “Quest Pro, huh… Interesting…” and winked at the camera.

By April, Bosworth’s stance on “Quest Pro” became more solid. In a public conversation with “Consulting CTO” John Carmack, Bosworth remarked:

“People are also asking about the Quest 3, which doesn’t exist yet, and everyone who is listening to us who is a reporter there isn’t a Quest 3, there’s only a Quest 2, but I did hint at an AMA earlier this year about Quest Pro because we do have a lot of things in development where we want to introduce new functionality to the headset along the kinds that people theorize that we would want to introduce, and that’s a little ways off still. It’s still not gonna happen this year.

For those who are curious, Quest 2 is going to be in the market for a while – for a long while, and it’s gonna be, you know, I think the best bet for the most accessible way to get into VR and have a great experience.“

So as of April, Quest Pro was “a little ways off” and not happening this year. Perhaps Quest Pro could come in 2022? We don’t know, but there’s a lot that could affect the plans of a company at Facebook’s scale trying to ship a hardware product with new sensors inside.

Quest Pro Might Have Face & Eye Tracking

Bosworth’s answer mentioned a desire to “introduce new functionality”. In March, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described face & eye tracking as his most wanted feature for future Oculus headsets:

“One of the things I’m really excited about for future versions is getting eye tracking and face tracking in, because if you’re really excited about social presence you want to make sure the device has all the sensors to really kind of animate realistic avatars so you can communicate well.“

“On the VR side, I think the biggest things that we’re very focused on now are: how do you pack more sensors, to create a better social experience, into the device? To run each sensor requires more CPU power and that generates more heat and creates all these different issues.

In June, YouTuber Basti564 found references to eye & face tracking services in the public Oculus Quest firmware. This month, Reddit user Reggy04 found references to eye & face tracking calibration steps. While this doesn’t confirm Quest Pro will have these features, it seems to be a strong hint, given Zuckerberg’s comments.

Eye tracking and face tracking could make multiplayer & social apps more realistic. Eye tracking also has other uses, such as improving VR throwing mechanics through the app understanding what you’re aiming at.

Quest Pro Might Have New Lenses

Android Central said in June it viewed a note from Ming-Chi Kuo claiming Facebook & Sony have ordered high quantities of new, more expensive VR lenses for 2022. Kuo is a TF International Securities analyst mostly known for sometimes predicting Apple products & moves over a year in advance.

Current VR lenses have a field of view roughly around 100 degrees wide. New lenses could mean Quest Pro has a wider field of view, area of clarity, or both. In an Instagram AMA back in March, Bosworth said he likes the idea of a taller field of view, which he claimed could be more impactful than wider.

Android Central’s headline names the headset as ‘Oculus Quest 3’, but the article notes the source isn’t actually claiming that.

Quest Pro Might Have Lens Depth Adjustment

Reggy04 also found in the Oculus firmware references to lens depth adjustment.

PRESS AND HOLD THE DEPTH BUTTON AND MOVE THE HEADSET CLOSER OR FURTHER AWAY FROM YOUR FACE. THE LENSES SHOULD BE CLOSE TO YOUR EYES, BUT NOT CAUSE DISCOMFORT.

Already present in headsets like Valve Index, lens depth adjustment allows you to move the lenses closer to, or away further, from your eyes. Closer results in a wider field of view, but might be less comfortable.

Note that lens depth adjustment is a different thing from precise lens separation adjustment. Lens separation adjustment refers to changing the distance between the lenses of a VR headset and it is a feature on the original Rift and Quest as well as on the HTC Vive and Valve Index. At the time of this writing, there’s no evidence either way about whether Quest Pro will have precise lens separation adjustment, but if it has eye tracking that could affect the overall optical design of the headset in new ways.

Quest Pro Probably Won’t Be Varifocal

All VR headsets on the market today are fixed focus. Each eye is given a separate image, but the screen is focused at a fixed distance from the lenses. This means that your eyes point (verge) toward the virtual distance to what you’re looking at, but focus (accommodate) to the fixed focal length of the display. This is called the vergence-accommodation conflict. It may cause eye strain and headaches and also makes near objects look blurry.

At Facebook’s annual F8 conference in 2018, the company showed off “Half-Dome”, a prototype variable focus (varifocal) headset using physical actuators to move the position of the displays relative to the lenses. In late 2019 Facebook showed a compact version called Half-Dome 2 and a version with liquid crystal lens layers instead of moving parts called Half-Dome 3.

It may seem like Quest Pro would be the ideal product to introduce this technology, but when asked about the idea in the same February AMA session where he hinted at Quest Pro, Bosworth replied:

“Half-Dome is a varifocal headset, which means the optics move to help us solve vergence-accommodation so you can focus on near objects. But building something like that has fragility, cost, weight concerns, which we haven’t found a way to balance yet. But it is still something we’re looking at.”

Carmack Thinks Quest Pro Won’t Sell As Well

In that same public conversation Bosworth signaled Quest Pro not coming this year, consulting CTO John Carmack gave his view on the prospective product:

“I’m happy to have some Pro version that’s going exploring every sensor in the kitchen sink. I just think that you’ll wind up with 1/10th of the users on there and we should be about kind of maximizing the user base.“

What processor will Quest Pro use?

Like all standalone VR headsets shipped outside China, we’d expect Quest Pro to use a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. Quest 2 uses Snapdragon XR2, a variant of Snapdragon 865 from early 2020.

Snapdragon 865+ launched in late 2020 as a higher clocked but more expensive model. Early this year a further improved model, Snapdragon 870, shipped with a higher clocked Prime CPU core.

A true successor, Snapdragon 888, also launched early this year. Qualcomm claims its new GPU is 35% more powerful, but there was no announcement of an XR-focused variant or mention of VR.

Of course, XR2 could still be used but clocked higher. The primary CPU cores in Quest 2 are actually underclocked. A more advanced cooling system could allow for significant improvement in CPU, and perhaps even GPU overclocking. And, of course, Quest Pro could use a chip yet to be announced.

When will Quest Pro be announced and when will it be released?

Other than noting it isn’t launching this year, Facebook hasn’t dropped any hints as to when Quest Pro might be announced or released. The company hosts an annual VR & AR conference in fall called Connect where products like Oculus Go and Oculus Quest were first announced.

This year Facebook Connect takes place October 28. There are no rumors as to what will be announced, but if Facebook does plan to reveal Quest Pro this year, Connect would likely be the venue.

Facebook Announces Zoom Partnership For Horizon Workrooms

From uploadvr

Facebook announced a collaboration with video conferencing application Zoom, integrating Zoom meetings natively into Facebook’s new remote work solution for VR, Horizon Workrooms.

The integration won’t arrive until next year but will allow you to “easily join Zoom Meetings and use Zoom Whiteboard all from within VR.”

Horizon Workrooms is Facebook’s remote work collaboration tool for Oculus Quest 2, allowing several users to join a virtual boardroom and speak to each other as if they are in a real room, with avatars, spatial audio, remote desktop, keyboard tracking and group whiteboard features.

While the focus is on users joining using virtual reality, Workrooms also contains functionality that allows a non-VR user to join the meeting through a regular video call. However, starting next year, Workrooms will also allow VR users in the virtual boardroom to join an existing Zoom meeting and collaborate using Zoom Whiteboard. You can take a look at the announcement, which was made at Zoom’s Zoomtopia keynote speech, in the video embedded above. The Horizon Workrooms segment begins around the 34 minute mark.

Zoom Whiteboard was also announced at Zoomtopia, just before the Facebook and Zoom collaboration. It is an upcoming tool for Zoom that allows users to collaborate on a virtual whiteboard together, taking notes, making drawings, placing post-it notes and more. With Horizon Workrooms integration, VR users will be able to use Horizon’s desk whiteboard or the large standing whiteboard to alter the Zoom Whiteboard.

Zoom product manager Jordan Thiel said that they “envision” being able to save and share Zoom Whiteboards as well, which would allow you to save the end product after the meeting and send it around to those who weren’t in attendance.

Will you use the Zoom integration with Horizon Workrooms once it’s available? Let us know in the comments below.

‘Quest Pro’ Face & Eye Tracking References Found In Oculus Firmware

From uploadvr

Reddit user Reggy04 dug into the Oculus Quest v32 firmware, finding strings referring to ‘Quest Pro’ as well as face and eye tracking.

We obtained the Quest v32 firmware file, decompiled it, and searched it with grep to confirm Reggy’s claims.

The Quest Pro reference appears to be from the Hand Tracking setup process:

QUEST PRO ESTIMATES YOUR HAND SIZE AND HOW THEY MOVE SO YOU USE YOUR HANDS INSTEAD OF CONTROLLERS IN VR.

Quest Pro was first teased by VP of Facebook Reality Labs Andrew Bosworth in a February Instagram Ask Me Anything session. In April, Bosworth said Quest Pro could “introduce new functionality to the headset”, but cautioned it would not ship this year.

Face & Eye Tracking

Calibration text for both face and eye tracking are present. While this doesn’t confirm Quest Pro will have these features, it does suggest Facebook is testing them in real device firmware.

In March, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described face & eye tracking as his most wanted feature for future Oculus headsets.

The face tracking calibration asks you to smile, pull an angry face, frown, and then show a surprised expression.

FOLLOW THE TARGET WITH YOUR GAZE

EYE CALIBRATION FAILED

EYE MOVEMENT ESTIMATION COMPLETE

It’s unclear whether the system simply detects these four states or whether the exact lip shape is passed to apps, as with HTC’s Vive Pro Facial Tracker.

SMILE NATURALLY UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.

SHOW AN ANGRY EXPRESSION UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.

FROWN NATURALLY UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.

SHOW A SURPRISED EXPRESSION UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.

FAILED TO CALIBRATE THE EXPRESSION. RETRYING…

FACE MOVEMENT ESTIMATION COMPLETE

Reggy is not the first to discover eye tracking & face tracking – YouTuber Basti564 found similar references back in June.

Lens Depth Adjustment

Reggy also found a reference to a “depth button” for adjusting the longitudinal distance between the lenses and your eyes:

PRESS AND HOLD THE DEPTH BUTTON AND MOVE THE HEADSET CLOSER OR FURTHER AWAY FROM YOUR FACE. THE LENSES SHOULD BE CLOSE TO YOUR EYES, BUT NOT CAUSE

ADJUST LENS DEPTH

Lens depth adjustment, present in headsets like Valve Index, allow the wearer to balance the comfort of pressure with the wider field of view afforded by closer lenses.

A depth button already existed in the PC-based Rift S, but this firmware is for the Android-based Quest range.

‘Quest Pro’ Face & Eye Tracking References Found In Oculus Firmware

From uploadvr

Reddit user Reggy04 dug into the Oculus Quest v32 firmware, finding strings referring to ‘Quest Pro’ as well as face and eye tracking.

We obtained the Quest v32 firmware file, decompiled it, and searched it with grep to confirm Reggy’s claims.

The Quest Pro reference appears to be from the Hand Tracking setup process:

QUEST PRO ESTIMATES YOUR HAND SIZE AND HOW THEY MOVE SO YOU USE YOUR HANDS INSTEAD OF CONTROLLERS IN VR.

Quest Pro was first teased by VP of Facebook Reality Labs Andrew Bosworth in a February Instagram Ask Me Anything session. In April, Bosworth said Quest Pro could “introduce new functionality to the headset”, but cautioned it would not ship this year.

Face & Eye Tracking

In March, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described face & eye tracking as his most wanted feature for future Oculus headsets.

Calibration text for both face and eye tracking are present in the Oculus firmware. While this doesn’t confirm Quest Pro will have these features, it does suggest Facebook is testing them on a real standalone headset, not just PC-based lab prototypes.

FOLLOW THE TARGET WITH YOUR GAZE

EYE CALIBRATION FAILED

EYE MOVEMENT ESTIMATION COMPLETE

The face tracking calibration asks you to smile, pull an angry face, frown, and then show a surprised expression.

It’s unclear whether the system simply detects these four states or whether the exact lip shape is passed to apps, as with HTC’s Vive Pro Facial Tracker.

SMILE NATURALLY UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.

SHOW AN ANGRY EXPRESSION UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.

FROWN NATURALLY UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.

SHOW A SURPRISED EXPRESSION UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.

FAILED TO CALIBRATE THE EXPRESSION. RETRYING…

FACE MOVEMENT ESTIMATION COMPLETE

Reggy is not the first to discover eye tracking & face tracking – YouTuber Basti564 found similar references back in June.

Lens Depth Adjustment

Reggy also found a reference to a “depth button” for adjusting the longitudinal distance between the lenses and your eyes:

PRESS AND HOLD THE DEPTH BUTTON AND MOVE THE HEADSET CLOSER OR FURTHER AWAY FROM YOUR FACE. THE LENSES SHOULD BE CLOSE TO YOUR EYES, BUT NOT CAUSE DISCOMFORT.

ADJUST LENS DEPTH

Lens depth adjustment, present in headsets like Valve Index, allow the wearer to balance the comfort of pressure with the wider field of view afforded by closer lenses.

A depth button already existed in the PC-based Rift S, but this firmware is for the Android-based Quest range.

Baobab Studios Nabs 9th Emmy Award Thanks To Baba Yaga

From uploadvr

Baba Yaga won an Emmy for Outstanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program at the 48th Annual Emmy Awards, bringing Baobab Studios’ total Emmy awards wins to nine.

Baba Yaga also previously won two other Emmy awards — Outstanding Directing Team for Animated Program (Eric Darnell, director, and Mathias Chelebourg, co-director) and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for Character Design (Karl Athannossov).

“It was already such an honor and thrill for Baba Yaga to be awarded Emmys for both character design and direction,” said Baba Yaga director and writer Eric Darnell. “And now, to be honored with the award for best interactive is truly spectacular and a reflection of the team’s monumental efforts to give the audience the opportunity to be the hero of their own story.”

The immersive VR movie released in January exclusively for Oculus Quest after premiering at various film festivals in 2020, including the Venice Film Festival almost exactly a year ago. In our review at the time, we found it to be entertaining but slightly safe. It certainly wasn’t the ambitious step-up we were hoping to see from Baobab’s next offering:

This is a likable, sweet but ultimately safe adventure, highlighted by some great VR novelties but also equally limited by them. I want to see something from this studio that feels truly dynamic — like my presence has genuine impact in the stories it creates. Baobab remains one of VR’s most promising storytellers but, four years on from its debut, I feel like I’m still waiting for it to really hit its stride.

You can read our full review from last year here.

Baba Yaga is available now on Oculus Quest for $5.99.

Oculus Quest 2 ‘Space Sense’ Guardian Intrusion Feature Found In v32 Firmware

From uploadvr

Twitter user Basti564 has found updated graphics and settings options for the ‘Guardian Intrusion Detection’ interface, first found back in March, which is now referred to as ‘Space Sense.’

Basti564 posted a video on Twitter showing new graphics and an explainer video within the Quest running on v32. We’ve been able to get the graphics too. In Settings, under Device, we can see ‘Space Sense’ — a currently dormant feature, which shows an outline of people and objects that move in front of you while using a roomscale boundary.

The feature and the menus depicted above are not accessible natively to Quest users on v32. However, UploadVR was able to test the adb commands to bring up the menu on a Quest 2 and enable the feature. The menus seem to just be a placeholder for now — in our testing, the feature didn’t work even after it was enabled via hidden menu.

Here’s a transcription of the text from the dialog box:

Enable Space Sense to see outlines of people and things inside your Roomscale boundary. Staying aware of what’s around you while in VR helps keep you and others safe. 

You can see outlines up to 9 feet away, as long as it’s still within your boundary and directly in front of your headset. You can turn this feature off at anytime in Settings. 

Basti564 also posted a clear capture of the new explainer animation, which shows a Beat Saber player who is alerted by a ghost-like visual of someone entering their play area and walking across the player’s field of view. It also shows a user who is able to see visualizations of objects in their play area. The Quest can currently detect objects during guardian setup, but this feature looks to show a visualisation of them during regular use.

Evidence of this guardian intrusion feature was first found back in March by Basti564. At the time, it had graphics in the style of the older Quest UI and evidence suggested that it had been dormant in the Quest since v20.

While it’s still unclear whether the feature will release soon, the updated Space Sense name and the newer Quest 2-style animated instructional clips would indicate that the feature is perhaps still being actively worked on. If nothing else, the graphics look more polished than they previously did and the inclusion of a settings menu, where you can adjust the sensitivity of the feature, bodes well.

Would you use this guardian intrusion feature if it came to Quest? Let us know in the comments.