[HN Gopher] Meta launches Hyperscape, technology to turn real-wo...
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Meta launches Hyperscape, technology to turn real-world spaces into
VR
Author : PaulHoule
Score : 77 points
Date : 2025-10-05 13:42 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (techcrunch.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (techcrunch.com)
| wewewedxfgdf wrote:
| The Zuck really doesn't want to let go of the MetaVerse does he?
| not_a_bot_4sho wrote:
| Metaverse is a huge deal among Zune owners and Quiby
| subscribers.
| shermantanktop wrote:
| I heard about on MySpace. I think it's going to be Web 2.1!
| mrheosuper wrote:
| And i happy for that. Someone has to bite the bullet to push
| the VR tech.
| hansmayer wrote:
| Right, but why?
| reassess_blind wrote:
| Because someone needs to pour the money in to get us to
| "Ready Player One" level game immersion.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| But is there much of a demand for it? VR has been a
| feature of video games for over a decade now, last time I
| used it I thought it was good enough (that was 6-7 years
| ago), technology wise. But it's nowhere near as popular
| as e.g. regular displays.
|
| Any movie depictions of VR are fully immersive - Ready
| Player One (at least the film) takes some liberties in
| depicting the game world as if it's immersive, even
| though the guy plays with VR glasses and force feedback
| gloves/suits, all current-day technology. Most others
| have a direct brain interface. Some (Star Trek) model a
| realistic immersive environment around the player, but
| both of those are very much science fiction still.
|
| There's some brain / tech interfaces, but if I recall
| correctly the brain has to learn to handle the signals
| first, there's no way to create a perfect, instant link.
| lm28469 wrote:
| The people who wish for these worlds are either complete
| shut in, terminally online or already spending 8+ hours a
| day playing video games and walking past their lives.
| andybak wrote:
| No. We're fairly normal actually.
| lm28469 wrote:
| The numbers don't lie though, statistically nobody wants
| VR, we haven't even reached the numbers they were
| predicating for 2016, 10 years later ...
|
| > It says 96 million VR headsets will be shipped in 2020
|
| https://www.forbes.com/sites/paullamkin/2016/02/17/wearab
| le-...
|
| Turns out they sold half as much.... in 5 years:
| https://startupsmagazine.co.uk/article-over-51-million-
| vr-he...
|
| > the VR/AR market will reach $182 billion in revenue,
| including hardware and software/content, by 2025 and
| bypass television.
|
| https://www.startbeyond.co/media/idcvrrevenuereport
|
| Meanwhile: "The global virtual reality (VR) market size
| was valued at $16.32 billion in 2024"
|
| I don't know anyone with a social life who care about
| these toys, the only people I know of who are semi
| interested already spend 6+ hours a day gaming.
| andybak wrote:
| I don't care how many people want it. I personally never
| claimed it was going to be a huge mass market thing. It's
| big enough to be sustainable.
|
| Stupid claims by people trying to pump investment hype
| have no bearing on my interest in the medium.
|
| > I don't know anyone with a social life who care about
| these toys, the only people I know of who are semi
| interested already spend 6+ hours a day gaming.
|
| The people I know with an interest in VR are mainly
| artists and other forms of creatives. We must move in
| different circles.
| theshackleford wrote:
| > I don't know anyone with a social life who care about
| these toys
|
| On the other hand, I do. Isnt it crazy that like,
| different people have different experiences? Who would
| have thought!
| gmueckl wrote:
| They are also e.g. architects and designers who get
| amazing new tools to check their work and present it to
| clients. What is more honest than getting to walk through
| e.g. a life size mockup of a building? Now you can do
| that before the ground is even broken.
| lm28469 wrote:
| These tools already exist and have nothing to do with the
| metaverse. This is such a weird argument, as if we needed
| meta to spend 10-50b a year in their bs to have these
| tools...
| andybak wrote:
| Tools exist to view architectural spaces in the same way
| a headset can without a headset? I'm slightly confused.
|
| Or maybe you think a headset doesn't add anything to the
| experience of viewing a space. If so, I'd have to ask
| whether you'd actually used one. Because if there's any
| inarguably uniquely appropriate use case for VR, it's
| "viewing architectural spaces"
| reassess_blind wrote:
| I don't think it needs to be perfect for there to be
| massive demand, but it does need to get a lot better than
| it currently is.
|
| Games where you are stationary (racing simulation,
| mainly) are better suited to it. Gran Turismo 7 in PSVR2
| with a Logitech racing wheel was a ridiculously immersive
| experience. I played through the whole game in VR and it
| was one of the best gaming experiences I've had and
| certainly the most immersive, particularly as a diehard
| car guy. But racing sims are fairly niche.
|
| Outside of racing sims, it's still immersive, but any
| games with character movement give me immediate motion
| sickness, the movement is too clunky and disorienting.
|
| If they can figure that out at a reasonable price point
| the demand will be there because the immersion is just
| night and day against a screen.
| theshackleford wrote:
| > last time I used it I thought it was good enough (that
| was 6-7 years ago), technology wise.
|
| Many of us didnt. I wouldnt call low resolution and low
| PPI (significantly lower than desktop displays) "good
| enough." Not to mention terrible optics. I would use my
| current device a lot more if it could match the
| "viewable" resolution of my desktop displays, but
| currently, it can not.
| lm28469 wrote:
| Meta alone could have solved like 50% of famines/heavy
| malnutrition currently happening in the world if they
| used their metaverse budget to do something useful. And
| they'd still be so rich they wouldn't know what to do
| with the leftovers.
|
| No one "needs" to push for that bullshit metaverse, the
| real world isn't shitty enough, yet, apparently they're
| dead set and achieving that, for people to wish to live
| in a computer.
| cloudflare728 wrote:
| You don't understand how money works.
|
| They are not burning money, they are employing people
| like you directly or through 3rd party partner companies.
| The beneficiaries can decide themselves how to spend
| money. They can live a good life or help others.
| lm28469 wrote:
| Ah yes, they're just redistributing the money, the
| trickle down economy right ? They're basically a non
| profit humanitarian association at that point
| cloudflare728 wrote:
| Profit or loss is out of the equation.
|
| Somehow Facebook getting a huge amount of money. They are
| distributing that money to a million people (directly or
| indirectly to employees, share holders, employees of 3rd
| party partners). Some people are getting billions and
| some are getting $100s.
|
| Instead of handful of people in Facebook management
| deciding to be humanitarian, you now have a million
| people deciding what to do with their portion. It is that
| simple.
| throw-10-8 wrote:
| Still living in the 80's?
|
| Seems like you are the one with an outdated model of how
| money works.
|
| Over the last couple decades it has been moving up at an
| ever increasing rate instead of down.
| reassess_blind wrote:
| It would be interesting to see how much of a difference a
| lump sum of $50 billion would make, or not make, to long
| term world hunger.
|
| It's a lot of money, but the WFP has spent more than that
| in the past 10 years on the problem.
|
| A lot of the issues with world hunger aren't easy solved
| by throwing more money at it. Politics, logistics,
| corruption etc. It can't be solved without money either,
| of course.
|
| Not to say that money couldn't be better spent elsewhere
| than the metaverse.
| hansmayer wrote:
| If you take money for what it should be - a measure of
| work invested towards achieving a result, then yes, I
| suppose we could get a lot done with people employed out
| of that 50B working towards the goal of ending the world
| hunger. Heck, I'd even argue building a moon base with
| that money would have been a better investment than the
| crap the "magnificent 7" is pushing on us.
| taskforcegemini wrote:
| why not? As good as the options have become, for many
| purposes they are still not quite there yet
| fragmede wrote:
| Yeah, but how are we going to get there if we don't work
| on it?
| ildon wrote:
| As soon as I've tried the VR experience myself for
| something I actually found useful/entertaining (VR sports),
| I was immediately sold on the idea. I can't wait for this
| tech to get better and better
| the_gipsy wrote:
| The FacebookVerse.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| He should've just spent the money to buy Roblox, Fortnite or
| Minecraft. Second Life at a stretch.
| lm28469 wrote:
| I was in LA in 2015 at the peak of the VR hype, I don't think
| zuck got the memo that it flopped hard between then and now.
| supportengineer wrote:
| Did you encounter any Kouriers while travelling from one
| burbclave to the next?
| hnlmorg wrote:
| There is some sense in it and I'm surprised by all the
| naysayers here.
|
| For starters, Quest is by far the biggest selling VR/XR
| headset. So he is already seeing some success here.
|
| And as we've seen before, Facebook isn't going to dominate
| forever. It makes complete sense throwing large sums of money
| at future technology while you still have large sums of money
| to burn.
|
| Chasing new technology when you're already behind and your
| revenue is decline is a guaranteed way to fail.
|
| Moonshots like this you waste a tonne of money when that money
| is comparatively cheap anyway. Plus it keeps people talking
| about your business, which is never a bad thing.
| bonesss wrote:
| Critically, in my estimation: Facebook/Instagram is delivered
| on phones, browsers, and PCs not owned by Meta. Boardroom
| politics could tank huge chunks of their business model
| without recourse.
|
| Meta establishing VR and the underlying ecosystem, building a
| moat, makes lots of long term sense (if they succeed).
| halflife wrote:
| Semi related, is horizon worlds still a thing? Is it being
| developed? Are there active users?
| queltos wrote:
| Surprisingly it is. Thought it was dead in the water especially
| against VRChat. But it is continuously worked on and if I did
| get that right it will get a new engine as well. Accidently
| hopped into some worlds recently as they are (annoyingly)
| promoting it heavily in the quest library. And there are plenty
| of worlds with many players, 99% of which being small kids it
| feels.
| growthwtf wrote:
| Rendering takes a few hours means humans are building it at least
| partially.
| andybak wrote:
| False. This is just gaussian splats being queued up on a server
| somewhere
| growthwtf wrote:
| You could be correct, but it would be a real indictment of
| their rendering farm I think.
| andybak wrote:
| It's not "rendering" with gaussian splats. It's more
| "training" (or "fitting"). And not knowing how much the
| usage vs compute ratio is, I would hesitate to comment.
|
| But knowing a little bit about gaussian splatting, I can't
| think what manual steps requiring human assistance are even
| likely to be necessary?
| clintonb wrote:
| VRML was one of my early computing interests. I'm actually
| excited for more ways to share 3D spaces with folks!
| aitchnyu wrote:
| In 2000, I was 10 when I downloaded a web page with an applet
| to walk into a cell. But a VRML player was a whopping 10mb and
| it would have jammed up the phone line for hours and costed a
| fortune.
| skeezyjefferson wrote:
| remember even back THEN, they said VR would change how we work.
| I guess its just a common misconception we keep making
| UberFly wrote:
| Meta is the Yahoo of current platforms. It happens to all of them
| eventually...
| XorNot wrote:
| This one is actually quite interesting: there's direct uses for
| any ability to rapidly extract digital representations of
| physical spaces.
| righthand wrote:
| Like spying on the room around the person and trying to
| advertise to them more Funko Pop dolls?
|
| What are the other direct uses?
| baq wrote:
| Remodeling a kitchen for one.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| I can think of a few:
|
| * Surveys (I had the county come in once in my sort-of legal
| rental appartment when they were legalising them, they needed
| to make a floor plan and fire safety recommendations)
|
| * Real estate, which already uses 360 degree photo's and
| simplified 3d floor plan models
|
| * Video games. Very generic usage.
|
| * Virtualised museums, but those would likely need extra work
| to make all the placards etc readable
|
| * Street View next level, also indoor navigation.
| throw-10-8 wrote:
| And how many of those does Meta have existing revenue and
| distribution model for?
|
| Its pretty safe to assume that the primary driver of this
| is data hoovering for selling ads, everything else is just
| PR spin from the Meta thinktanks.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| They send me surveys which show they have preoccupations
| which are... weird.
|
| They're not happy to have a successful game store, they
| want me to use a VR headset to determine my schedule.
| Which I guess is alright, if I can also access my
| schedule with a desktop computer or a phone. Why I'd want
| to use VR to determine my schedule is beyond me, I think
| a 'minority report' kind of interface could be possible
| but it is 2025 and you'd think people would expect a
| conversational recommender that works everywhere.
| reaperducer wrote:
| Oil companies have been using VR rooms for decades to
| explore, and understand, and map underground deposits and
| formations.
|
| (I first saw it in 1999, when it was considered old hat. I
| can only imagine how much more advanced it's become.)
| qingcharles wrote:
| When they first showed this off a few years back it was for
| AI training, e.g. training robots on real world locations.
| alex1138 wrote:
| A fundamental problem with Metaverse is that their parent
| companies (Facebook, Insta, and as far as Whatsapp it's a clear
| antitrust case) don't work
|
| People don't see posts from friends. The site spams you to death.
| They hijacked your email address, and replaced it with a
| facebook.com address. They've lied rather a lot about things
| generally
|
| And that company is now the one presenting a
| Metaverse/VR/AR/whatever
|
| It should be DOA just based on reputation, never mind the
| technical merits
| fsiefken wrote:
| what if they open source the 3d->vr tech, or inspire people to
| create open source alternatives? it's a net win
| timeon wrote:
| They already open-sourced React. I consider it net-negative
| for the web. While nice API for developers, it resulted in
| slow websites for users.
| alex1138 wrote:
| And the license controversy
| crashingintoyou wrote:
| I'm eager to see this become more widely available, at least once
| such spaces can be shared. Not yet available to me, but hopefully
| soon.
| nicman23 wrote:
| so that is why they werent giving access to the color cameras in
| oculus 3 to apps
|
| i want my point cloud scanner dammit
| andybak wrote:
| They've relented on that now. There's a (somewhat limited) API
| for camera access.
| nicman23 wrote:
| do they give the full output?
| andybak wrote:
| It's a cropped area. Presumably to keep the bandwidth
| requirements down. Also limited to 60fps (I recall)
| KaiserPro wrote:
| its partly privacy, and partly camera constraints.
|
| I don't think any of the cameras run at 90hz, I'm pretty
| sure the slam cameras run at 25hz, with the IMU doing the
| rest. (that might have changed, It also may have been
| 15hz, I can't remember)
|
| Also, again from memory, its been a year since I actually
| worked on it, the colour camera does some fancy fusion to
| make a compound image. The images need to be warped
| properly so that depth is displayed properly.
| jasode wrote:
| Somewhat related is 3D / LIDAR scanning tech of overlapping photo
| captures using Matterport: https://matterport.com/
|
| It's popular with real estate agents. Not quite "virtual reality"
| but it also doesn't need expensive glasses. It does seem like
| future smartphones with AI may be a decent cheaper substitute for
| $6000 Matterport cameras.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| I think the same content could be viewed with either VR
| headsets or phones or computers, see
|
| https://scaniverse.com/@UP8
| alfiedotwtf wrote:
| I just hope we'll be able to download and keep our files, rather
| than have them hold hostage... it would be nice to use this as a
| personal archival of houses and pass them down like a family
| album.
|
| Now there's a sad sad thought - imagine if Kodak required monthly
| subscription to vote your photos
| mabedan wrote:
| This is the first feature which makes me kind of excited for VR.
| I live away from my country and my parents for over 20 years and
| I'd love to be able to sit in my parents' living room, or have
| them sit in mine and share a moment together. FaceTime is already
| great, but I can imagine this will feel more intimate.
| ojo-rojo wrote:
| +1 To add to the experience of connecting to people, I can also
| imagine our family members taking a photograph together while
| in VR of the family living room - a memento we can take away.
| That would work if our VR avatars are realistic representations
| of ourselves, which I think Meta can do (?)
| lm28469 wrote:
| This sounds like an absolute nightmare. Technology
| disconnected us over decades, then gave us "solutions" to
| stay in touch 24/7, people are lonelier than ever but we keep
| pushing for more of this shit. You can already call and video
| call your family, basically for free, what does VR bring to
| the table ?
|
| "Hey John, grandpa will expire soon can you quickly jump in
| your headset and upload yourself to his VR cabin in the wood,
| the one we rent from MetaSpital for $99 a day, to take a
| selfie with him before he dies alone in a cold hospital room"
| andybak wrote:
| It's just another way to record a time and place. No more
| different to a video than a video is to a photo. Just
| slightly more fidelity.
|
| It's a good thing. It's a nice thing. Chill.
|
| I get that there's reasons to be angry at big tech but this
| isn't one of them. Accurate and easy 3d scanning, high
| fidelity rendering and a way to view in 6dof stereoscopic
| is just a great use case entirely separate from the
| machinations of our evil overlords.
| lm28469 wrote:
| And how does a 3d rendered world that doesn't exist
| anywhere other than in a computer has more fidelity than
| real life ?
|
| > It's a good thing. It's a nice thing. Chill
|
| That's your opinion, the fact that VR tanked hard seems
| to indicate most people don't agree
| itsdrewmiller wrote:
| It has more fidelity than a photograph or a 2d video. No
| one has claimed it is higher fidelity than real life.
| theshackleford wrote:
| > And how does a 3d rendered world that doesn't exist
| anywhere other than in a computer has more fidelity than
| real life ?
|
| It's not always posible to meet up with people in real
| life. A lot of my friends moved overseas and I have
| neither the time nor inclination to be flying to
| sweden/the USA constantly.
|
| > That's your opinion, the fact that VR tanked hard seems
| to indicate most people don't agree
|
| This in no way changes the reality of their situation, in
| fact frankly, its irrelevant. Something being "nice" or
| "good" does not require it also have mass market appeal.
| skeeter2020 wrote:
| If this continues the trend of technology discouraging
| in-person, physical connectedness then it's not an all-
| good, all-nice thing. It could actually be a very
| dangerous, very bad thing.
| kakacik wrote:
| That's an extreme take, venting off some inner fears and
| frustrations?
|
| There are many use cases where this can add value. People
| these days live far from their families, what's wrong with
| connecting in a better/different way if desired?
|
| Not everybody wants or can stay with their families for
| whole life and that's fine, something about personal
| freedom and right to self-determination, desire for massive
| personal growth that exposure to different cultures
| invariably brings in, adventures and so on.
| lm28469 wrote:
| > something about personal freedom and right to self-
| determination
|
| This has to be satire, god emperor Zuck and his megacorp
| Meta fighting for our personal freedoms and right to
| self-determination. You're already living in an alternate
| universe apparently
| jmathai wrote:
| I used to think this. But as I've aged and grown wiser, I
| think perhaps everyone should consider the large negative
| impacts of moving so far away from family. Technology
| can't solve all the problems.
| diamond559 wrote:
| It's adding another dimension to video calls, this isn't
| solving any major problems in the world. It won't bring
| in billions in revenue either.
| mabedan wrote:
| I agree with the general sentiment. I also think we forgot
| how to enjoy quality time together and these "solutions"
| will make matters worse. But in some scenarios, like what I
| described, which is just spending time together, it can
| help
| foobarian wrote:
| Yeah, pesky technology disconnecting us. Best to go back
| before cars where nobody could move anywhere. See you
| Sunday in church
| skeezyjefferson wrote:
| we are decades away. its why carmack quit to pursue other
| avenues. the chasm between the state of the art (gaming) and
| where VR currently is (essentially, mobile) is too big not seem
| shitty in comparison. The then-recent proliferation of Arm and
| SoC made the industry think it was possible, they even
| convinced Carmack, but the bandwidth just isnt there. The
| innovation required on the software side is massive - so theyll
| just wait for hardware to get better.
| acka wrote:
| Would you care to explain what you mean by "the bandwidth
| just isn't there"? VR is more than just mobile devices; all
| currently available VR headsets can also do PC VR, whether
| via a wired DisplayPort link or a wired or wireless network
| connection.
|
| As I see it, the only absolute upper limit for VR is the
| resolution and frame rate of the VR headset displays, as well
| as the quality of the optical stack. Rendering of the
| graphics can be done by anything from a single high-end GPU
| in a PC up to a beefy server in the cloud--although in that
| case, of course, network latency and video compression will
| impact the experience.
| yibg wrote:
| Agreed. Both my parents are getting older but live in different
| cities quite far apart from each other and me. Being able to
| virtually spend time together would be good if it's realistic
| enough. During Covid I got into the habit of playing VR games
| with my father since I wasn't able to physically visit and he
| was isolated. Not quite the same as being there physically of
| course but it helped a lot. Something both of us looked forward
| to.
| bluehat974 wrote:
| Imagine scanning a cooking courses and be able to move in the
| space to watch cooking technique in any angles, would be awesome
| lawlessone wrote:
| That would be magnitudes more data i think. As cheap as storage
| is i don't think anyone is ready for that.
| throw-10-8 wrote:
| Its hilarious to me how people in these comments still give Meta
| the benefit of the doubt and think the core feature of this is
| anything other than blatant data harvesting.
| ge96 wrote:
| Hmm I swear I saw something like this demoed. I think it was an
| independent thing but also think Apple has it too with their VR
| headset.
| RyanOD wrote:
| I'm sort of embarrassed to ask this, but what is the point of
| this (and I'm genuinely asking)?
|
| I get that it can scan a physical space and then I can see a
| digital reproduction of that space on VR goggles...but then what?
| Do I just stand there looking around the space?
| plun9 wrote:
| I guess other people with a headset can view your spaces.
| wlesieutre wrote:
| I would love to time travel back to some of my old apartments
| dottjt wrote:
| The huge application for this I think is video games. Instead
| of having to create every small detail by hand, you can just
| create the space in real-life and then have that rendered.
| jncfhnb wrote:
| Can't tell if that's a joke
| baby wrote:
| Imagine if you could go back and visit all the apartments
| you've ever lived in. I would pay big for that. That's worth
| more than a lots of cameras and pictures taken
| skeeter2020 wrote:
| Unless it adds a rose-colored tint I think you'd quicky
| realize that time & nostalgia filter out a lot of things and
| there's a reason you no longer live in that apartment.
| kace91 wrote:
| As someone who worked in VR a decade ago, I can tell you that
| the few use cases that were earning us actual money (as opposed
| to hype and continuous POCs) were niche apps and tools for
| specific industries.
|
| A common one is VR visits for real estate companies and travel
| agencies, for example. Also virtual previews for investors and
| C-suite execs in meetings where there was a ton of money
| involved - think someone trying to sell the creation of a whole
| neighbourhood and this is a fancy version of a powerpoint slide
| for their pitch.
|
| This tech could probably have saved us a good amount of work,
| though It's still a head scratcher why Zuck thinks this is the
| one thing in which to bet the company's future.
| skeeter2020 wrote:
| It seems to recreate the absolute low point for Wade in Ready
| Player One, when he's deeply unhappy and only has the sort of
| nostalgia you'll get from a photo-realistic but ultimately
| empty representation like this.
| qingcharles wrote:
| Meta has been working on this for a while. I believe one of
| their primary use cases was for AI training. e.g., to train
| robots on real world locations before letting them loose.
| bluerooibos wrote:
| "Visit your local cafe, now in VR. Meet your friends in local
| spaces, without leaving your home!"
|
| Either way, I don't see this taking off. I'm surprised they're
| still pursuing VR.
| lurker919 wrote:
| On one hand, meta has a bad reputation for being a toxic pip
| factory where employees can be laid off any time. On the other
| hand, they are consistently coming out with innovations in
| VR/glasses at a time when the industry is going crazy over openai
| funny money. Are toxic work practices actually good for
| innovation?
| w_for_wumbo wrote:
| Humans can do amazing things when they are pushed to their
| limits. You can force a human into a position where they
| innovate for their lives. OR you can create a safe enough
| environment where their innovation comes out naturally. The
| second option benefits everyone yet can be harder to do in
| practice because it requires paying attention and attuning to
| the needs of the individuals and the collective.
| Towaway69 wrote:
| Initially read this as hyper escapism but then realised it wasn't
| about AI, just 3D.
|
| Strange how all the major technologies atm are concerned - at
| least partly - with escaping reality.
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