You can now scan your room and view it with Meta Quest - in five minutes!
You can scan objects and entire rooms with your smartphone and view them instantly in Quest 3(S). We'll show you how.
Niantic has just made it easier than ever to capture the physical world and view it in Meta Quest.
I'm a big fan of 3D scanning with my smartphone. What I've been missing is an easy way to bring that 3D content into virtual reality where it can really shine.
Starting today, that can be done in five minutes thanks to Gaussian Splatting and Niantic's new WebXR application, Into The Scaniverse, which was developed specifically for Meta Quest.
Niantic's smartphone app Scaniverse has been able to capture environments using Gaussian Splatting for a while now, and with the new release of Into The Scaniverse, you can easily view your Gaussian Splats and those of others using Meta Quest 3(S). All you have to do is open the corresponding website in your Quest browser. It couldn't be easier or quicker.
Please note: You can currently only view your own Gaussian Splats with a Scaniverse iOS account. Quest headsets older than Quest 3(S) are not supported.
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Your Gaussian Splats in VR: step-by-step instructions
How to bring your objects and rooms into Meta Quest 3/3S:
- Download Scaniverse from the App Store and create a Scaniverse account in the app.
- Select "Splat" for the scan option and scan an object or room in 1-3 minutes. The app will give you tips on how to make good 3D scans.
- Go to the library, select the splat you have created and share it: either by choosing "Post to Map" (public) or by tapping on "Share link" (private). If you choose "Share link", you don't have to do anything else and can close the sharing window that pops up.
- Launch the browser in your Meta Quest and navigate to intothescaniverse.com.
- Select "Profile" in the WebXR application and connect the Meta Quest to your Scaniverse account by entering the code into the Scaniverse app. To do this, go to Library > Settings (gear icon) > Authorize Meta Quest.
- Back in VR, your Gaussian Splat should now be available for selection. Select it and click on the crystal in front of you to dive into your splat.
To test this, I scanned my bike in about three minutes and was immediately able to move around the digital replica of my room with Meta Quest, and looking at my bike from different perspectives (see the end of the video below).
Into The Scaniverse is still in beta, but it already works very well and will only get better from here on. Niantic promises improvements and says that a native Meta Quest app is coming soon.
Of course, you can also try out the technology without uploading your own Gaussian Splats. Simply go to the intothescaniverse.com website in your Quest browser and take a look at the Gaussian Splats from all over the world.
To learn more about Gaussian Splats, check out this new article from Niantic.
Gracia and Meta's Hyperscape demo offer further opportunities to explore Gaussian Splats on your Meta Quest.
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