While the main focus of today's Meta Connect developer conference was on unveiling new smart glasses, the company did share several updates related to the metaverse during Wednesday’s keynote presentation. Among the most notable was the debut of Hyperscape, which was first previewed at the previous year’s event. This tool enables creators and developers to design virtual environments with a high level of photorealism.
Meta revealed that Hyperscape Capture is now entering Early Access, allowing owners of Quest devices to quickly scan a physical room and transform it within minutes into a detailed, immersive digital environment that closely resembles the original space.
Meta explained that while the scanning itself only takes several minutes, rendering the virtual version of the scanned room can take several hours to complete.
Initially, users won’t have the option to invite friends into their digital rooms, but Meta plans to enable this feature in the future via private links.
Image Credits:Meta
Despite being new, the technology has already been used to create and display several showcase Hyperscape worlds, such as Gordon Ramsay’s home kitchen in Los Angeles, Chance the Rapper’s House of Kicks, The Octagon at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and Happy Kelli’s Crocs-filled room.
Meta originally gave a preview of Hyperscape during last year’s Connect conference, demonstrating the use of Gaussian Splatting, cloud-based rendering, and streaming to bring digital spaces to the Meta Quest 3 headset. The company is now beginning to make Hyperscape available to users aged 18 and over who own either a Quest 3 or Quest 3S.
The feature is being introduced in phases starting today, so some users may not have immediate access.
Additional metaverse features were also announced at today’s event, including a new range of fall VR games. Titles include Marvel’s Deadpool VR, ILM’s Star Wars: Beyond Victory, and Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked, as well as Reach.
Meta’s streaming service, Horizon TV, will soon support Disney+, ESPN, and Hulu. Additionally, a collaboration with Universal Pictures and Blumhouse will deliver movies like “M3GAN” and “The Black Phone” with immersive visual effects, and a 3D preview of “Avatar: Fire and Ash” will be accessible for a short period.
