Leaked videos reveal more details about Quest 3’s upcoming ‘Augments’ feature.
Augments were announced at Connect 2023 by Mark Zuckerberg when launching Quest 3. They were described as “persistent spatially-anchored digital objects” in your physical space. Examples shown in a library screenshot included a clock, music player, and portals to your favorite games.
Quest 3 Augments Are Persistent Digital Objects In Your Space
Meta will introduce a series of spatially-aware digital objects to your living space next year on Quest 3.
It sounded like augments will essentially be mixed reality widgets, but at Connect we didn’t hear any specifics about how augments actually work.
Last week a technical filmmaker posted two videos to their Vimeo account showcasing Quest 3 augments, one from a user perspective and the other from a developer perspective. The videos appear to have been posted by mistake as they’ve now been taken down, but they were saved and sent to UploadVR by VR enthusiast Luna.
The videos show a much greater degree of interactivity and functionality than the Connect announcement suggested, and hint that augments will be full-fledged mini-apps that run in the Quest home interface.
The first video shows three example augments: a playable miniature pinball game, an interactive calendar, and a pet-like virtual plant that can be watered.
The second video shines a light on how these augments actually work on a technical level.
As Meta has hinted in the past, the video reveals that Meta Spark Studio will also be the tool used to build Quest 3 augments. Spark Studio is an application for Windows and macOS used today to make AR filters and experiences for the camera in Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.
Spark Studio supports importing and animating 3D assets, and implementing advanced functionality with JavaScript. The result is lightweight mini-apps that can run alongside each other in the Quest home environment, without the baggage and weight of a game engine like Unity. It’s somewhat akin to Apple’s strategy with Reality Composer Pro and RealityKit, which allows apps to run alongside each other in the “shared space” in visionOS.
Augments were announced as coming to Quest 3 sometime this year, and we’ll bring you any official announcements from Meta of a more specific timeline or further details.
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Maria Malik is your guide to the immersive world of Virtual Reality (VR). With a passion for VR technology, she explores the latest VR headsets, applications, and experiences, providing readers with in-depth reviews, industry insights, and a glimpse into the future of virtual experiences.