HTC may be launching new modules and accessories for its Vive virtual reality headsets, including a lip tracker, UploadVR reports.
HTC is preparing some kind of announcement on its Vive Account on Twitter last week. Yesterday, he posted the image of a hinge, which experienced Twitter users combined with an experimental lip tracking module that HTC announced at the Game Developers Conference in 2019. You can see a photo of the hinge product that HTC is causing and a photo corresponding from your lip tracking device below.
At the time, the company reported that it was using the module for research and experimentation, according to Path to VR. Combined with HTC’s eye tracking already integrated with the Vive Pro Eye, it offers an initial picture of what full VR facial tracking looks like. Some developers got their hands on that earlier version of the lip tracker and integrated it into social VR apps like NeosVR.
Hand, face and eye tracking features play an important role in making avatars move and look “natural” in VR. The HTC Vive and Oculus Rift and Quest headsets now offer hand tracking as a control method, but face tracking (enabled by an attachment or possibly new headphone designs) can prove to be a boon in social settings of VR.
Facebook was already experimenting with face tracking for Oculus headphones in 2019, UploadVR reports. In a recent interview, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also reiterated how realistic avatars – animated with face and eye tracking – are important to his vision of the future of VR.
HTC has not yet confirmed that it is launching a version of its lip tracking module to the public. But either way, getting comfortable with headphones that detect you as much as the environment around you seems to be on the cards for VR enthusiasts.