Meta is deprecating its personal Quest combined actuality seize software and formally supporting LIV as a substitute.
On this trade “combined actuality” truly has two associated however distinct meanings. One which means is apps and video games you utilize in headsets with passthrough that mix actual and digital, whereas the opposite refers to compositing an actual individual or avatar into flatscreen footage of a VR sport to raised signify the way it feels to be inside it. The consequence can be utilized in trailers or livestreams, and is the subsequent smartest thing to truly placing a headset on somebody’s head.
LIV is an organization and gear that has been serving to builders, YouTubers, and streamers create this type of combined actuality footage since 2016. It was used to create lots of the trailers for the unique HTC Vive launch titles, for instance.
Since 2019 Meta has had its personal competing Combined Actuality Seize Device for Rift and Quest too. However right this moment Meta introduced it’s deprecating this software and making LIV the official successor.
LIV used for a VR sport trailer (Damaged Edge)
The preliminary focus of this partnership will likely be enabling capturing top quality third-person footage of combined actuality Quest video games by way of a PC and exterior digicam.
LIV already helps capturing full-VR sport footage on this method, however Meta has now funded LIV so as to add help for capturing Quest combined actuality video games with this technique too.
That funding additionally brings help for Quest’s hand monitoring, scene understanding, spatial anchors, and dynamic occlusion to the app so apps utilizing them can seize top quality PC-side footage.
All that is out there in LIV SDK 2.0. The beta is offered right this moment for Unity, and is coming to Unreal Engine “later this 12 months”. By the top of the 12 months, the corporate intends to launch a non-beta steady model for each engines.
The corporate claims “tons” of recent Quest apps are including help for LIV, together with Gorilla Tag and Racket Membership.
Someday within the subsequent few weeks LIV plans to launch Quest Creator Package, a Quest-native SDK that may enable creators to seize footage standalone on Quest with no PC. First-person footage will be stabilized and have wider discipline of view than the headset, much like Meta Quest Developer Hub’s cinematic mode, and third-person footage will likely be supported too.
LIV used for a combined actuality sport trailer (Racket Membership)
LIV notes that the Meta partnership is not going to take something away from its present PC VR providing, and the LIV PC app will proceed to be distributed by way of Steam. It additionally says there isn’t any exclusivity contract right here, so this work may very well be used to help different combined actuality headsets when the market circumstances to take action make sense.
LIV can be sticking to its promise “by no means” cost builders or creators for utilizing its seize instruments and SDKs. The startup says it survives on funding from traders equivalent to HTC Vive and Palmer Luckey, and has a industrial license for bigger companies, along with the funding it is now receiving from Meta.
