Microsoft is now actively developing a Metaverse for Teams. Earlier this week, Facebook changed its name to Meta in an effort to build virtual communities for companies and consumers. Microsoft plans to add the virtual reality (VR) collaboration platform Mesh in the following year.
Highlights from Microsoft’s Announcement of Metaverse
Using 3D Avatars and Team Mesh, Microsoft has successfully brought together the many factions of the Metaverse. When participants in a Teams meeting do not want to have their audio or video recorded, they can now use 3D avatars.”Mesh for Teams” aspires to “make online meetings more personal, engaging, and entertaining.”
Conference Calls Online Are Here to Stay. Microsoft
Microsoft is taking online conferences more seriously now that they’ve added 3D avatars and immersive rooms to their Teams platform. Your 3D avatar will be able to join meetings even if you prefer to keep the camera off. Microsoft can animate your face in response to auditory cues so that you always look like you’re having a good time with your friends.
How Will This Work?
The advent of mixed-reality technology has made it possible for Microsoft Teams users to participate in meetings as avatars and explore immersive virtual places. Frank X Shaw, Microsoft’s corporate vice chairman of communications, remarked in an interview that “the metaverse promotes shared experiences across both real and digital realms.”The Metaverse “can enable people to meet in a digital context, make meetings more comfortable utilizing avatars, and foster creative collaboration from all over the world as organizations speed up their digital transformation.”
Microsoft first revealed their new mixed-reality technology, Mesh, earlier this year. This technology makes users feel as though they are in the same physical space. But now the company has provided a sneak peek at how this technology will be integrated into Teams. When Mesh for Teams is released in 2022, users will be able to make their own 2D and 3D avatars to represent themselves in a Teams meeting.
Avatars might also be used to represent other visitors, who might keep popping up in the background of the video as a static image or a bubble with their initials. Businesses can leverage it as a template for building metaverses (immersive workspaces) on Microsoft Teams.
In short, Avatars in Teams are meant to function in both traditional 2D and 3D meetings, despite being obviously optimized for use with a virtual reality or augmented reality headset. Teams’ virtual settings and character animations should, in theory, be accessible from multiple devices, all due to Microsoft Mesh.
