Meta Quest 3 now supports multi-room mixed reality
New and improved Quest 3 APIs allow you to use mixed reality experiences that span multiple rooms or an entire home.
Until recently, advanced mixed reality experiences were limited to a single room that had been previously scanned with Quest 3's depth sensor using the Space Setup feature.
Version 65 of the Meta XR Core SDK, released in May, includes two major enhancements that will take mixed reality experiences to the next level:
- An improved version of the Anchors APIs that provides accurate and robust anchoring of digital content in space, even in very large spaces (up to 200 square meters),
- A feature called Space Discovery that automatically links scanned spaces and anchors when traversing multiple spaces.
Quest 3 can currently recall up to 15 scanned rooms.
MIXED has previously reported that Quest developers can now hide the boundary system in their mixed reality apps. This means that users can move freely around the room without triggering the boundary. A massive gain in user comfort.
This is what future mixed reality experiences could look like. | Image: Meta
Combined with the improvements mentioned above (improved spatial and scene anchors for large rooms, multi-room support), this will enable more natural and expansive mixed reality experiences.
As always, it will take some time for developers to implement these features in their apps.
Quest's Space Setup is too cumbersome to use
Advanced mixed reality, in which digital objects react to their surroundings, stands and falls with Quest 3's room scanning feature, which is still cumbersome to use. If something has changed in the room, users have to start the space setup again and scan their environment. If objects in the room are not detected or are not detected accurately, they have to be outlined again by hand. It's a time-consuming process that keeps me from using mixed reality apps more often.
The next generation of Meta Quest must be able to scan the room in the background and update its digital duplicate in real time, similar to what Apple Vision Pro does today. Otherwise, I fear that more advanced mixed reality will be slow to take off with consumers.
Note: Links to online stores in articles can be so-called affiliate links. If you buy through this link, MIXED receives a commission from the provider. For you the price does not change.
