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| Facebook brings office to virtual reality |
Facebook has launched a public beta of Horizon Workrooms, a way for people to collaborate remotely using Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headsets or other communication methods.
Employees can use the Avatar Creation system (developed for the Facebook Horizon virtual platform) to create cartoon characters in the 3D animated workspace and to connect with colleagues in virtual meetings.
You can wear the Oculus Quest 2 to work to take full advantage of the free platform. But others can connect via smartphones, desktops or laptops and interact at different levels.
Facebook said it designed Horizon Workrooms and understands that the way we work is changing.
More and more people are working remotely, more and more people want flexible work opportunities and more and more people are rethinking the importance of working in the office. But without the right communication tools, working remotely can be difficult.
In countries/regions that support Oculus Quest 2, you can download Horizon Workrooms for free from Oculus Quest 2.
Horizon Workrooms
Horizon Workrooms enables people to meet and work in the same virtual room regardless of physical distance.
It is suitable for virtual reality and the Internet and aims to improve your team's ability to collaborate, communicate and communicate remotely.
You can sit at a table and watch virtual avatars of your classmates making bodily movements during the conversation.
You can also watch them write or stand up and go to the whiteboard, where they can draw or mark documents with virtual hands.
If you look around the room, you can see who is listening or not in the room. Even their avatars are still there.
Audio quality is important because you can hear what's going on in the room and use your posture to decide who is speaking. This makes it easy to avoid group speech in pure speech applications.
You can use the manual controls to join or browse through features manually. And you can raise your hand and press the air to press the button.
You can also create a mixed reality desk where you are in a physical office and then scan it across the room so others can see you on the desk.
You can retrieve virtual files and put them on your virtual desktop.
And because you can sit at a real desk and operate your computer, you don't have to leave your usual work tools in VR.
You can also pair your laptop and move it into the room so that you can share content with others across the device. This allows you to share multiple sets of slides or documents.
Facebook brings office to virtual reality
Horizon Workrooms integrates video conferencing functionality. It includes spatial audio so you can see which direction the sound is coming from and more easily know who is speaking.
More importantly, it can filter out a lot of noise, such as when typing. The system uses the built-in Oculus Remote Desktop app on Mac and Windows, which gives you one-click access to your entire PC via virtual reality.
You can take notes during the meeting, import files into VR, pin photos from your computer to the whiteboard, and even share your screen with colleagues if needed.
Once done, you can export the board from VR to share it as an image on your computer.
You can also sync with Outlook or Google Calendar to easily schedule meetings and send invitations. You can also change the environment and configure the virtual room layout according to your needs.
After creating an account, you can download and install Horizon Workrooms from the Oculus Store on the Quest 2, then follow the instructions in the app to pair the headset with your account.
Facebook says that if you choose to collaborate with colleagues, you should be in control of your experience.
Horizon Workrooms does not use your business conversations and documents to notify ads on Facebook. In addition, it processes images and videos of the physical environment of the device's sensors locally.
Facebook and third-party apps do not access, display, or use these photos or videos to target ads.
Other people can't see your computer screen in videos unless you choose to share them. The permissions you give to Oculus Remote Desktop are used for the purposes of allowing streaming from your device to your glasses.
Anyone signing up for Horizon Workrooms must agree to follow the Facebook Community Standards and Conduct of the VR Policy.
If other members or content in Horizon Workrooms violate these policies, users can contact a team administrator who can take action such as removing someone from the Horizon Workrooms team.
You can also report the entire Horizon Workrooms team if you believe they are not following the policies. And if you're in VR with people who harass you, you can report them using the reporting tool and include evidence for Facebook to review.