Lenovo Tech World 2022: aiming for a metaverse upgrade? - Computerworld

(Editor’s note: Both Lenovo and Microsoft are clients of the author.)

Lenovo’s large Tech World '22 took spot this week and 1 of the astir absorbing segments tied into what Microsoft's called Holoportation. (Not surprisingly, it uses Hololens.) It besides addressed 1 of the biggest problems with Meta’s metaverse implementation: realism.

Most radical who person seen Meta’s instrumentality connected the aboriginal of mixed-reality meetings person recovered it ... wanting. People aren't truly acceptable to enactment successful a caller work that makes Linden Labs' "Second Life" look good. (If Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wanted to recreate "Second Life," helium could person bought it for a fraction of what his improvement efforts person outgo truthful far.)

Specifically, what Lenovo showed disconnected was an implementation that, alternatively of relying connected cartoonish avatars, uses a acceptable of 3D scanners to accurately make an interactive, highly photorealistic avatar that tin beryllium utilized for virtual conferences and meetings. This, I think, is simply a crippled changer for the conception of metaverse conferencing. It represents a acold much workable aboriginal than what we've seen to day and could lick immoderate of the problems inherent successful virtual worlds.

Let maine explicate wherefore (and wherefore avatars request legs). 

Feeling present

Whether we're talking astir the aboriginal days of videoconferencing oregon existent efforts utilizing the metaverse, 1 underlying occupation for distant workers is that they don’t consciousness present. You person radical who are connected a occupation tract who intelligibly interact with each different arsenic radical (because they are contiguous and are people), portion those that are distant look arsenic 2D pictures oregon 3D avatars that not lone look similar poorly drawn cartoons but deficiency legs.

This deficiency of world makes it hard for distant workers to consciousness adjacent to those who are physically contiguous successful a gathering and highlights different problems. It's hard to person broadside conversations if you're not successful the room, oregon spell and drawback java oregon a repast aft a gathering has ended, oregon marque immoderate deeper — and much engaging — idiosyncratic connections. 

While a much realistic avatar won't hole the inability to prosecute extracurricular of the meeting, it does supply a amended crushed to make adjunct tools that could virtually let these missed opportunities to emerge. You whitethorn not privation to person a agelong heart-to-heart speech with a cartoonish avatar, but you already apt do person more-involved conversations implicit Zoom oregon Microsoft Teams (or adjacent utilizing your telephone without immoderate video) today.

Creating a much realistic avatar should effect successful amended in-meeting experiences and the imaginable for amended after-meeting engagement.

Blended realism for the win?

One of the large problems for distant workers is that radical on-premises spot them successful unflattering conditions. Maybe they're successful casual attire portion those successful the bureau are successful suits and dresses, oregon they're surrounded by poorly rendered backgrounds successful rooms cluttered with the artifacts of location life. Using a rendered avatar (rather than a existent image), allows that avatar to look its champion (perfect hair, constitution and clothing) and it tin amended blend into an artificial inheritance that looks much realistic. You don’t person the issues that travel with utilizing a greenish surface — that unusual achromatic enactment astir your assemblage and a intelligibly static representation down you that everyone knows isn’t your existent home. 

Blended realism could contiguous distant employees successful a amended airy than adjacent those who are on-premises, due to the fact that world is obscurity adjacent arsenic easy modified. This unsocial could punctual employees to favour distant meetings, cutting down connected question clip and commuting waste, portion some improving productivity and the usage of virtual world conferencing tools. 

Lenovo's instauration of a real-time scanned avatar that tin contiguous arsenic existent and tin ever look its best, careless of deficiency of sleep, atrocious  clothing, oregon messy backgrounds shows wherever Meta has truthful acold fallen short.  Granted, the solution does necessitate a batch of processing power, a fewer 3D sensors, and a abstraction that would let a idiosyncratic to beryllium rescanned erstwhile needed.

But each of those issues are comparatively casual to solve, suggesting that holoportation is astir to get a important VR upgrade arsenic we determination to the adjacent level successful metaverse conferencing.