08-20-2022 03:00 PM
Since Horizon's inception, the graphics have been very simplistic. Cartoonish and flat, with less focus on visuals and more focus on functionality.
Despite how long these relatively lackluster visuals have been in place, it seems that in recent weeks a plethora of criticism received the attention of Meta. In response, Zuckerberg released a statement along with a screenshot of some of the future updated graphics we can expect to see. Aside from more realistic looking Avatars, I found the environment upgrade worth a share. 😊
"Major updates to Horizon and avatar graphics coming soon. I'll share more at Connect. Also, I know the photo I posted earlier this week was pretty basic -- it was taken very quickly to celebrate a launch. The graphics in Horizon are capable of much more -- even on headsets -- and Horizon is improving very quickly."
^^
Not too shabby, and really looking forward to jumping back in to Horizon once these visual upgrades are in place.
Personally, I have always been able to relate to focusing on features and functionality over visuals. I've been a software dev for over 20 years, and long before there was such a thing as Facebook - or even MySpace (lol?) - most of my dev projects suffered the same approach. If I created a Desktop Application, it was a Grey Form with a White Button. If I created a Web Application, it was a White Form with a Grey Button. And all my buttons said the same thing: Click me!
The low-grade approach to visuals never bothered me, since there was so much magic behind the scenes. I've built buttons that connected global mainframes and performed QA checks for Rockets. Ugly buttons sitting on ugly backgrounds, but magical buttons nonetheless! Most of the other developers senior level developers I've encountered throughout my career had a very similar behavior with their work. Hell, some of the developers that I personally looked up to in my career didn't even bother with an interface; all their magic was executed at the Command Line.
Adding pretty graphics should always be one of the last things implemented. In fact, I typically worry when I see a new software product advertised in a way that overly highlights its visuals. That's usually a sign that there isn't anything behind the imagery that's really worth the users time. Smoke and mirrors.
Anywho, sorry for the random digression 😋
It sounds like the next Meta Connect conference will have some rather enticing reveals.
08-20-2022 06:58 PM
The updated avatars, apparently.
Although I still think they are going the wrong way by not allowing more user customisation. A lot of people don't want to be "average person in regular clothes" in the metaverse.
08-20-2022 07:37 PM
Looks good Zen. Hopefully Horizon World will make it down-under one day, lol!
08-20-2022 08:53 PM
Agreed, Kojack. The Avatars are still very limiting. Hopefully that's something that can be expanded upon sooner rather than later.
08-21-2022 02:51 AM
@Zenbane wrote:
Personally, I have always been able to relate to focusing on features and functionality over visuals. 😋
Rec Room and Half+Half are good examples of limited visuals in vr multiplayer worlds.
The current Oculus avatar system is kind of sitting at the midpoint of the scale between game rpg character creation (Elder Scrolls, Dragon's Dogma, etc) and simple but unique stylise (Minecraft, Roblox, Rec Room, etc). They are bland.
Then again this doesn't really matter to me, since I'm not allowed in Horizon Worlds anyway.
(Ok, I don't do virtual world stuff much. I've had a Second Life account for many years, I've never spoken to another person in it. I just fly the debug camera around taking screenshots of the crazy (or cool, rarely) shit in there)
Something I haven't tried yet, is Zuckerberg's avatar using the standard editor parts? Can we form an army of Mark clones?
08-21-2022 04:38 AM - edited 08-21-2022 04:50 AM
That looks like a big change!
I've been wondering what the overriding factor is in limiting the visual complexity. I mean there must really be 2 things... headset performance and server performance but I can't find info on which is more critical in Worlds.
If the visuals you've shown here are running ok on a Quest 2 then I'm guessing either the servers are getting a major boost or the code has been drastically re-written??
I'm well into creating a little world, really just to learn the scripting and modelling techniques, and even with a load of object optimisation I'm eating into the complexity meter at an alarming rate. So a coding or server upgrade would be welcome.
I'm also trying to figure out from that screenshot what may be changing with the modelling methods. Are we going to be able to create and edit at the vertex level, maybe even import objects from 3D packages? or was that scene created solely from library objects as we currently have to do it? the library would have to be pretty huge to include all the objects and textures for this level of improvement I think, to the point where it's too big to be user friendly. So, hopefully we're getting more intricate modelling tools.
As far as the avatars are concerned, the number of people you set your world to allow in has a massive effect on the permitted complexity of the world you create and according to the Meta tutorial, that's because of the large number of tringles making up each avatar compared with the objects in the library. That new avatar may still look simple but it'll have a way higher vertex count.
So yeah, I'm really curious what's allowing this change.
08-21-2022 11:59 PM
Turns out the new Zuckerberg avatar was a 4 week project for an artist at Meta.
08-22-2022 04:09 AM
mmm sculpted, modelled and textured???
that sounds like more than choosing from a library or parts... unless Mr Dunbar is bigging up his task a little bit 🙂
08-22-2022 09:13 AM
Yep, sounds like more a custom example of what he wants the avatar system to look like, not an example of an actual avatar system in development.
I was able to come close to recreating the selfie zuckerberg, but the shirt he is wearing isn't part of the current avatar system. Does Horizon Worlds give you more clothes options beyond the general avatar editor?
08-22-2022 01:11 PM
That makes sense. Steve Rheinfrank probably had a decent set of rules and guidelines for what the new system might be able to do, otherwise that avatar won't be very meaningful.
The current avatar in Worlds is the system-wide Meta avatar so it's all the same, you just don't see anyone's legs... not sure if they're visible in any apps come to think of it.