Facebook has revealed Horizon Workrooms, a free virtual reality application for users of its Oculus Quest 2 headset. The application stands out as the social media company’s most ambitious effort to enable groups to socialize in Virtual Reality.
As per the statement by Facebook officials, Horizon Workrooms is its flagship collaboration experience that lets people come together to work in the same virtual room, no matter concerning the physical distance. It works across the VR and the web and is highly designed to improve the user’s ability to collaborate, connect and communicate remotely. Users can easily use the power of Virtual Reality, whether it is getting together to brainstorm an idea, work on a document, hear updates from the team, socialize and hang out or have better conversations that flow more naturally.
Horizon Workrooms offers Facebook with some of the best new emerging technologies together for the first time into one experience on the Quest 2.
“Using features like a mixed-reality desk and keyboard tracking, hand tracking, remote desktop streaming, video conferencing integration, spatial audio and the new Oculus Avatars, we have created a different kind of productivity experience,” Facebook said. “We have been using Workrooms to collaborate here at Facebook already, and we think it’s one of the best ways to work if you can’t be physically together.”
Horizon Workrooms Features
A virtual whiteboard as big as your ideas: Each room in workrooms provides an infinite whiteboard space so that you can sketch things out together in a real-time scenario. For the very first time, you can use your controller in a new way by flipping it around and writing it like a pen, either on a physical desk in front of your or simply standing with others on the whiteboard.
Avatars: It makes you feel more connected and have more natural communication with the help of Facebook new and improved Oculus Avatars and spatial audio technology. The new avatars provide you with a wide range of customization options and feel more natural and expressive, which helps you feel like you are there with your colleagues. However, the conversation sounds more lifelike with Facebook high quality and low latency spatial audio.
Video call or Virtual Reality, your choice: Not everyone will always going to have a Virtual Reality headset handy so that you can also dial into a room from your computer by a video call. You can invite guests to dial in, too, just by sharing a meeting link. Video participants will show up on a video screen in a virtual room, just like an actual conference room. It supports around 16 people in VR together and about 50 people total on a call which even includes the video participants.
A room or place for every task: You can configure the virtual room’s layout to match your needs. Whether you are focused on conversation, collaboration or presentation, there is a seating layout for each occasion, and the whole room scales up and down to fit the size of the group.
Concerning privacy, Facebook has now built Horizon Workrooms with safety and privacy in mind. Horizon Workrooms will now use the user’s work conversations and materials to inform advertisements on Facebook. The pass-through processes videos and images of the user’s physical environment from the device sensors locally.