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"Virtual reality certainly has the same long-term potential as the personal computer," Abrash told the public. "In fact, I think this environment will eventually become the most powerful creative and collaboration environment ever created."
But for this to happen, Abrash admits that there is still much to be done. The Reality Lab aims to create a real sense of "social presence" – the feeling of physically sharing the same space with another person – within the virtual space. To do this, Facebook is currently developing complete avatars that look and move exactly like the humans they represent. The company can not generate these "codec avatars" in real time, but Abrash is confident in time.
Abrash also emphasized the importance of transmitting emotions when creating a social presence and, to that end, his lab is working on creating photo-realistic virtual faces for their Codec avatars. As you can see in the video below, when two members of the Abrash team talk to each other, their headsets record their facial expressions and are "translated in real time into audio and visual signals perceived as a perfect representation of the other person's resemblance, "according to a Facebook statement.
But what is the point of complete avatars and photorealistic faces if you have nowhere to go in the virtual reality space? This is why the FRL has developed a prototype system capable of capturing high fidelity 3D scans of indoor environments.
"By combining a high precision depth capture system, state-of-the-art simultaneous mapping and localization (SLAM) technology, advanced camera system and dense reconstruction system, we are able to achieve a level of loyalty that is unprecedented in VR, "by a Facebook version. Not only will this technology allow users to virtually find themselves in real and familiar spaces, but it will also be "the basic infrastructure that will underpin the RA experiences of tomorrow", which FRL nicknamed Live Maps.
These two aspects – photorealistic avatars and virtual spaces – will eventually combine to create an entirely new form of social interaction. The ability to project your presence anywhere on the globe is nothing but transformative. But do not be too excited for now. "Realizing the full potential of virtual reality will take decades," Abrash warned. "Like with personal computers."
But progress is underway. The Half Dome helmet prototype presented at the event last year has already been surpassed by the smaller and lighter Half Dome 2, which weighs 200 grams. Oculus Quest users see. The Half Dome 2 also features an improved mechanical zoom lens that reduces noise and vibration. However, these two headsets are overshadowed by the Half Dome 3, which uses an electronic zoom lens, which eliminates almost all moving parts of the assembly through a stack of six thin LCD screens.
No breakthrough will take us to the next generation of virtual reality headsets, Abrash said. "Virtual reality technologies will need to be integrated into a comprehensive and tightly integrated platform to achieve this qualitative leap," he said. "It is the sum of these elements that will lead to this decisive experience, not isolated technologies."
Follow all the latest news from Oculus Connect 6 here!
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