on a new beta that was revealed last week on the Meta Community forums (via UploadVR), Meta has granted player avatars in Quest Home legs, but not in Horizon Worlds.
The Verge received an email from Meta communications manager Eliza Kern stating that “over the next few weeks,” “people will start to see avatar legs appear” in the VR versions of Quest Home and Horizon Worlds. A further email from Kern confirmed that this update will be available to all players, not just those who participated in the public beta.
Ryanality, the community manager, said on the forums that the “Public Test Channel (PTC) for Quest v57 is starting to roll out for Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2 soon,” but he didn’t mention any new features. Then, yesterday, TomCgcmfc, a forum user, claimed that their image had legs.
The legs’ final appearance is depicted in a tweet by Brad Lynch on X (formerly known as Twitter). In-game mirrors are now necessary for beta players to view their legs, and based on the video, it appears that the avatar won’t stoop when the user does so. The legs do exist in betas for a new mobile and online edition of Horizon Worlds, which was rumored last month, even if they have yet to emerge in Horizon Worlds.
The new Leg IK for Meta is a good start. They kept their opinion that you should only see them as a third person view
The lack of crouching is probably the most glaring issue of it so far. But progress 🤷 pic.twitter.com/0s5jmIvuvW
— Brad Lynch (@SadlyItsBradley) August 29, 2023
The Meta Community forum has users report improved menus that can be used and positioned with hand tracking rather than direct manipulation. One Reddit user said that hand tracking and automatic switching between controllers and hands had both improved. Through Mixed Reality News, NyaVR on X reported that they discovered code references to additional options, including an extended battery mode.
Besides legs, some of the highlights found in PTC v57 are settings to enable and disable the avatar mirror, a new Horizon Worlds Portal in home, an Airplane Mode, and an Extended Battery Mode pic.twitter.com/ZLpiIOC3ZR
— NyaVR (@nya_vr_) August 29, 2023
Legs have been announced for more than ten months, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg remarking at Meta Connect that they are “probably the most requested feature.” Because detecting leg movement with the headset’s cameras is difficult, Zuckerberg stated that the business will need to utilize an AI model. It appears that the legs seen in the Connect speech last year were really programmed motion capture.
It’s conceivable that Meta may reveal additional leg information during this year’s Meta Connect on September 27th. A large portion of the program will most likely be devoted to further details regarding the new Quest 3 headset, though there may not be much left to the imagination at this point, given that its unpacking may have already been documented.
