VIVE announced the next generation of its virtual reality (VR) tracking equipment this month with the revelation of the VIVE Tracker 3.0 and the VIVE Facial Tracker.
Each Tracker 3.0 unit weighs 75 grams, has a footprint of 70.9 × 79.0 × 44.1 mm, and has a battery life of 7.5 hours. This marks an improvement in size, mass and battery life while maintaining the same 240-degree field of view. A pogo pin input is standard on the devices and a standard 1/4-inch UNC threaded tripod mount is used to attach them. Tracker units are compatible with SteamVR BS1.0 and BS2.0, and each unit includes a dongle, dongle cradle, and USB cable. Full body captures are shown on the product page with as few as four tracking units (left wrist, right wrist, left shin, right shin).
The enterprise section of VIVE’s website shows several examples of the trackers in the field, where units are strapped to a person’s wrist or head for immersive gaming experiences, baseball motion capture, or film production. Units are also shown attached to a hockey stick for sports motions or to the end of a hose for a fire prevention training simulation. The product website has sections dedicated to developers and gamers, demonstrating the best uses for these distinct applications. It’s interesting that the developer site is heavy on specs and the possibilities of what the trackers can do, while the enterprise and gaming site focuses on things further down the product life cycle. In addition to the currently available games, the blog side of the VIVE website discusses the possible functions of PS5 controllers, as well as what Microsoft might be doing with VR for its Xbox Series X/S platform.
VIVE proudly says that its Facial Tracker is industry leading and boasts that the system can replicate up to 38 facial movements. Lips, jaw, teeth, tongue, cheeks and chin can all be manipulated to mimic the user, and since the response time is under 10 milliseconds, lip movements happen right along with the user audio. Dual cameras let the unit capture full lower facial motion, and the Facial Tracker page says that the system will be compatible with the current Pro Eye system to provide a full face picture. While both units are priced at $129.99, the Facial Tracker seems to be lagging behind the production of the Tracker 3.0 and is marked as “coming soon.” The software development kit is already available with the Facial Tracker integrated.
The entire website seems built around anticipating a user’s needs, from SDK downloads to product documentations to developer forums. A global accelerator showcases all the new tech that start-ups are creating with VIVE and gives a list of all the accelerator’s companies to date. VIVE’s blog shows upcoming products and events with a focus on gaming and industry end users.
Finally, as with every big announcement made by forward-thinking engineering companies, there are detractors. On an Instagram post showing off the capabilities of Blackfish Studio with the VIVE, several users asked if the announcement of the Tracker 3.0 and Facial Tracker meant that a new headset was on the way.