We have mentioned it many times in the past (here and here): THE Avatar Codecs are getting closer and closer to being able to be used. And as we announced to you in March of this year, it’s the Meta Quest Pro 2 (code name: La Jolie), scheduled for 2025, which will be supposed to display them.
The boss of Meta was interviewed by Lex FriedmanAI researcher at MITto talk about Avatar Codecs (a prototype for realistic representation of human faces). Funny thing,The two friends chose to conduct the interview using said technology on themselves, and it’s truly astonishing. So certainly, the rendering is not as detailed as in reality, smoothing out the roughness of the skin a little too much, but the result is incommensurable with the avatars (way Mii) stylized that occupy our systems Meta Quest current (and who have been the subject of so much mockery).
For the little story, it was in 2019 that the company chose to look into a prototype of photorealistic avatars. If, to obtain such a result, it is still necessary to equip oneself with a hundred specialized and overpriced cameras, the company is working to ensure that an equivalent rendering is possible by simply scanning a Smartphone. Contrary to Apple which suggests doing this by positioning the headset in front of you, the firm of Zuckerberg will perhaps be inclined to do the same on its Meta Quest Pro 2. Yes, if each person has a Smartphone different, this makes it all the more difficult to guarantee a uniform level of quality.
For lovers of detail, we observed, on the video, that the two men are equipped with Meta Quest Proand this, for obvious needs of tracking eyes and face. If you have followed us, you will understand that the headset is not supposed to display Avatar Codecsbecause if this were the case, the company would have already presented them when announcing the Meta Quest 3claimed to be 50% times more powerful than a Meta Quest Pro. One thing is sure, the rendering was calculated in real time from a remote machine during the interview.
On the question of feeling, The ex mentioned on multiple occasions having exceeded theUncanny Valleya syndrome designating the discomfort that human beings can feel when confronted with the small imperfections of what is supposed to imitate them. Fridman even admitted later that he had completely forgotten that he was chatting with an avatar, a feeling that we, in the editorial team, had already been able to feel even with the current simplified avatars during our multiple discussions on Horizon Workrooms.
Anyway, and even if the technology is impressive, its appropriation by the general public will only be possible when eye and face tracking integrate the firm’s general public headsetswhat a Meta Quest 4 could potentially propose.
Meta Quest 3 is now available for pre-order on the site of Meta and on Amazon. The model with 128 GB of storage costs 549.99 euros while the one with 512 GBis sold at 699.99 euros.