The Oculus Quest Pro has had a vast amount of information circulating the sensors of the internet itself the last few days due to a supposed leak of information regarding the VR headset. The Oculus Quest Pro will likely be seen in some form at Facebook Connect as Facebook has been hinting at a pro version of its Oculus Quest headset for a while. This new headset will be likely to feature improved tracking and potentially even full-body tracking among many other improvements. The Oculus Quest Pro Leak consisted of videos that showcased assumed setup videos of the headset.
The Oculus Quest has had two main assets in the lineage of the Quest’s thus far, with the first Oculus Quest and then the Oculus Quest 2 which was released in October of 2020. Now, Facebook sets up for an heir to the throne with the Oculus Quest Pro which will most likely see new controllers with a charging dock and moreover notable improvements on the main headset.
The Oculus Quest Pro Leak showcased videos that showed the user selecting and creating a custom avatar virtually by using the device, along with this, there were references to the Quest Pro being used for other practical uses such as architectural planning and a virtual workspace which is a wise move from Facebook to include in what may be promotional videos to ensure the headset reaches a range of markets in the world with efficiency and ease.
Quest Pro / Seacliff [thread]
found by Samulia in the Seacliff firmware pic.twitter.com/0pGODx2HCp
— basti 🦈⁰:3 (@basti564) October 24, 2021
Notably, the overall appearance of the Oculus Quest Pro can be seen in detail with a slick stylish look sweeping across the headset, the charging ports and controllers linked with the device could also be seen to be a step in the right direction. In terms of the application of the Quest Pro for gaming, the likely leak of full body-tracking will be a feature that will have many gamers wanting to grab the headset as soon as the release drops in the future.
As shown above, there has also been a patent filed by Facebook that specifically is for ‘Movement instruction using a mirror in an artificial reality environment’. This will protect the product’s main function and unique mechanic but the patent itself has images showing how the body tracking is set to work. There is the utilisation of a mirror and the abstract makes mention to the fact that ‘other reflective surfaces’ are covered, perhaps surfaces such as glass on a window. Sensors appear to trigger upon detection of the object reflecting. The main function of the full-body tracking seems to be linked to the use of said surfaces and will follow the following pattern of steps:
- Determine a map of the physical environment.
- If the physical objects (a body for example) are reflected in the mirror generate artificial reality content for the reflected objects.
- Present artificial reality content overlaid on the reflection.
As can be seen above, the full-body tracking may only work if there is an external reflective surface present. All of the details provided by the leaks seem to be promising and it will be thrilling to see what Facebook have up their sleeve for the Oculus Quest Pro.
The Oculus Quest Pro does not have an official release date as of the time of writing.
