Facebook parent company Meta is bringing 3D avatars to Instagram Stories and direct messages (DMs). The rollout of the new 3D avatars, Meta says, is an early step towards making the metaverse a reality. The company defines metaverse as an interconnected digital world, one that bridges VR and AR, in addition to more familiar platforms like your phone and computer.
Avatars offer people more ways to express themselves. Meta has added new facial shapes and assistive devices for people with disabilities. It has also tweaked skin shaders to make avatars more authentic.
Meta is also rolling out updated 3D avatars to Facebook and Messenger. With the 3D avatars, users can show up as their virtual self across apps via stickers, feed posts, Facebook profile pictures and more.
The 3D avatars are currently available for users in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company says that the user’s avatar will automatically enter the third dimension as part of this update.
“Since revealing our long-term vision of the metaverse at Connect 2021, we’ve continued building out this next evolution of social technology, building towards a future where you can sit in the same room as loved ones who are actually thousands of miles away or work naturally with a talented team that spans the globe,” Aigerim Shorman, Meta’s general manager for avatars and identity, wrote in a blog post.
As mentioned above, 3D avatars are early steps of the company in realizing its metaverse dream that has been Meta’s top priority for a long time. As part of its Metaverse preview, Meta has previously shown demos of its Codec Avatars and real-time environment rendering at its Facebook Connect event in October last year.
