The Vive XR Elite standalone headset is getting an eye and face tracking add-on that is now available to order.
HTC will announced the Vive Full Face Tracker for Vive XR Elite. It has the following technical features:
- 2 x eye tracking cameras with 120Hz sampling rate. Eye tracking allows for foveated rendering and automatic detection of the user's eye distance, as well as calibration of the lens distance, making it easier to share the headset with others.
- 1 x face camera with 60 Hz sampling rate for the lower half of the face. The camera captures and tracks 38 facial features across the lips, teeth, tongue, cheeks, nose and chin.
The accessory is connected to the VR headset via a USB-C port.
The Vive Full Face Tracker and its features. | Image: HTC
HTC cites more realistic avatars, motion capture for animation, research, and training as use cases. The software has been developed with HTC's Vive Wave platform in mind and supports OpenXR. Apps developed for the Vive Focus 3's full-face tracking are compatible with the new Vive Full Face Tracker.
The accessory is available to order now. It costs $200.
HTC released a facial tracker add-on for the Vive Pro in 2021, followed by a similar add-on for the Vive Focus 3 B2B headset in 2022.
In addition to Vive Focus 3 and Vive XR Elite, Quest Pro also supports full eye and face tracking.
No corresponding add-ons are expected for the consumer-facing Quest products. Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth rejected the possibility of external eye and face tracking modules. The add-ons would be difficult to integrate into existing devices. If they are, they may come as an integrated solution one day.
In November, HTC also released the Vive Ultimate Tracker for full-body tracking. It supports the Vive XR Elite and Vive Focus 3.