Meta's generative AI for VR worlds will get a major upgrade
Meta announced AssetGen 2.0, a greatly enhanced generative AI for creating 3D models for Meta's Horizon platform.
With the Meta Horizon Desktop Editor, users can create virtual worlds for the Horizon Worlds metaverse platform on their PCs.
In April, the program was expanded to include powerful AI tools that enable the generation of 3D models from text prompts (currently available only in the USA, Canada, and the UK).
Less than a month later, Meta announced a new AI model, AssetGen 2.0. Trained on a large corpus of 3D assets, it is capable of delivering higher quality results based on both text and image prompts.
"Building on its predecessor, AssetGen 1.0, our latest innovation represents a significant leap forward in 3D generative AI research, leveraging a single-stage 3D diffusion model to deliver 3D meshes with dramatically improved detail and fidelity, while our complementary TextureGen model ensures that these assets are not only visually stunning but also production-ready with high-quality textures," Meta writes in its developer blog.
AssetGen 2.0 will be rolling out to Horizon developers later this year.
It is unclear whether the model generation times will improve with the new model. According to Meta, it takes about 3 to 6 minutes to generate a single 3D model with AssetGen 1.0. The number of generations per day is also limited.
In his blog, Meta promises another AI model that will be able to create not only individual 3D models, but also "entire 3D scenes" based on text and image prompts (see example below).
What is the Meta Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor?
The PC-based editor went into Early Access in February. It is available in all 23 countries where Meta's Horizon Worlds metaverse platform is supported.
Meta describes the Desktop Editor as follows:
"The Desktop Editor maps to traditional 2D and 3D app development workflows, letting you build new worlds on your PC. It supports new features like custom model import for building high-fidelity worlds, TypeScript support for complex game logic, and mobile optimization tools that let creators build more fun, interactive experiences."
In the U.S., the Desktop Editor launched with generative AI tools that can be used to generate sound effects and ambient sounds, as well as TypeScript code. As of April, these and new AI tools (mesh generation, texture generation, skybox generation) are also available in the UK and Canada.
Prior to the early access release of the Desktop Editor, Horizon Worlds could only be created directly in VR using relatively primitive tools. With the release of the Desktop Editor, Meta deprecated these older tools.
To use the Desktop Editor, you need the Meta Quest Link PC app, which has system requirements. Once you have installed the PC app, you can download, install and start the Desktop Editor (see instructions). The Desktop Editor currently only supports Windows PCs. It does not run on macOS and Linux.
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