Meta has announced that they would be adding legs to their Meta Horizon avatars. Yes, you heard that right. The company says that it will let users add legs to their avatars on VR, mobile, and more as part of the company’s next generation of avatars. According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, legs were “probably the most requested feature on our roadmap,”
The reason why adding legs to the avatars took time for Meta was that recreating legs in the AR/VR metaverse is difficult. Since the VR headsets only track upper-body movements like hands and facial gestures, getting legs was not an easy task for Meta.
“With standalone virtual reality headsets, understanding your leg position is surprisingly difficult because of occlusion,” said Zuckerberg. “So if your legs are under a desk or if your arms block your view of them, then your headset can’t see them directly, and you need to build an AI model to predict your whole body position.”
Meta has also confirmed that they aren’t just working on legs. The company says that its aim is to add a whole bunch of new avatar-related features. As of now, the company is exploring how to make expressive and photorealistic avatars to represent yourself in different situations.
Soon you will be able to create and share your Meta avatar in WhatsApp. The Meta avatars will also be available on Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp video calls next year as well. They'll replicate your expressions and movements during calls. Meta is even launching an avatar store later this year so you can more easily shop for clothes in the metaverse.
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