Quest Professional doesn’t have a depth sensor, regardless of Zuckerberg saying it could.
It was beforehand known as “Venture Cambria” – the codename given when it was teased eventually 12 months’s Join. Zuckerberg instructed Protocol in Might Cambria will “ship later this 12 months” with an IR projector for energetic depth sensing. When referring to Quest 2’s camera-based depth reconstruction he mentioned “it’s sort of simply hacked”, occurring to say “on Cambria, we even have a depth sensor”. {Hardware}-level depth sensing can also be “extra optimized in the direction of palms”, he mentioned.
From the second I noticed Quest Professional in particular person, I seemed for the depth sensor within the place the leaked schematics instructed it could be. However I noticed nothing, at the same time as I shined my cellphone’s flashlight straight on the spot. So I requested Meta for clarification. An organization consultant responded with the next assertion:
Meta Quest Professional makes use of ahead going through cameras to measure depth in your setting. This works with 3D reconstruction algorithms to render your bodily setting inside your headset through Passthrough.
Mark was referring to a distinct depth sensing system included in a earlier prototype model of the system.
For context, we’re always testing and refining our merchandise earlier than launch and it’s frequent for {hardware} modifications to occur between variations of the system as we construct and develop.
Apparently although, hand monitoring did work higher on Quest Professional in my temporary time with it than I’m used to on Quest 2. That’s in all probability all the way down to the forward-facing cameras having 4 instances the variety of pixels. Meta made important enhancements handy monitoring on even Quest 2 due to latest advances in neural networks, so it’s doable these advances imply a depth sensor is not strictly vital for high-quality hand monitoring.
However a depth sensor in all probability would have had important advantages for certainly one of Quest Professional’s key use instances: blended actuality. Devices with depth sensors like HoloLens 2, iPhone Professional, and iPad Professional can scan your room routinely to generate a mesh of the partitions and the furnishings in it in order that digital objects seem behind or on actual objects. That is essential for convincing blended or augmented actuality.
Proper now, blended actuality on Quest Professional requires manually marking out your partitions, ceiling, and furnishings, simply because it does on Quest 2. That is an arduous course of with imperfect outcomes, including important friction to blended actuality.
Meta instructed us it’s trying into automated aircraft detection – referring to flat surfaces like partitions and tables – however mentioned it received’t be there at Quest Professional’s launch.
