Micro gestures are now a viable alternative for teleportation in VR
Meta Quest recently got support for micro gestures. And teleporting with this new input method is surprisingly easy. Try it yourself.
Micro gestures use Quest's hand tracking to turn your index finger into a virtual D-pad. Use your thumb to swipe up, left, up, and down on the side of your index finger. Tap the side of your index finger to confirm inputs.
The following graphic illustrates these new input methods.
Click on the image to see it in full size. | Image: Meta
Developers can use these inputs however they like. Meta itself expects the micro-gestures to provide an intuitive and effortless way to perform repetitive actions such as scrolling in the browser or teleporting in games and apps.
You can try out the latter yourself with Meta's demo app Interaction SDK Samples. Thanks to Luna for pointing this out.
Here's how the microgestures work for teleportation
Artificial locomotion via hand tracking is a tricky problem, but after trying Meta's implementation, I'm convinced that micro gestures solve it, at least for teleportation and in VR apps that are not too hectic.
Tap your thumb on your index finger to confirm teleportation, and swipe left or right to make a snap turn. Swipe up or down to move one step forward or backward. I made a video of what this looks like in practice.
The gesture recognition works well, and the input feels natural, there is no learning curve.
I can now see myself using micro gestures for teleportation in VR without having to rely on controllers, and I'm curious to see if smooth locomotion will be possible as a next step.
What do you think of the micro gestures?Join the conversation on Facebook, Bluesky or X or share your opinion in the comments below.
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