Meta is rolling out tech that allows you to seize a real-world area with a Quest VR headset so you’ll be able to create a digital, photorealistic VR duplicate. The corporate calls the tech “Hyperscape,” and as a part of a gradual rollout starting right this moment, customers will be capable of use the beta Hyperscape Capture app with their Quest 3 or Quest 3S to make the digital copies. Initially, you’ll solely be capable of go to the rooms you’ve scanned by your self, however Meta says that customers will be capable of go to rooms collectively by sharing a personal hyperlink someday “quickly.”
Meta confirmed off Hyperscape as a part of a demo launched at Join 2024 final yr, and whereas it looks as if the tech continues to be considerably early, it’s clear that the corporate sees digital recreations of actual environments as a probably notable use case for VR and its metaverse ambitions. (Although these ambitions have seemingly taken a back seat to AI as of late.) You’ll be able to see a Meta-provided instance of Hyperscape within the GIF under that recreates Gordon Ramsay’s house kitchen.
I toured some prescanned rooms at Join 2025, together with Ramsay’s kitchen. The rooms appeared lots like real-life rooms, and it was enjoyable to stand up near particulars like meals on a desk or a stack of books. The phantasm would break down in the event you obtained too near issues — textual content on a “paper” New York Occasions was readable, however generally a bit of smudgy — however total, I used to be actually impressed with the scans.
I additionally tried a short demo of the seize app. Sporting a Quest 3 headset, I walked and appeared round a room, and as I did, a digital mesh began to seem over objects I used to be dealing with. After a couple of three-minute scan of the room, the app prompted me to maneuver nearer to things. That made the mesh begin to disappear, which was a intelligent approach to present what I had “scanned” intimately. However I didn’t get to complete that half earlier than a Meta rep ended the demo.
Meta says that after you full a full scan, it’s uploaded to the cloud to course of over the course of some hours earlier than you’ll be able to expertise the scan for your self.