Oculus Quest 2 hand tracking added to Meta’s Presence Platform

Oculus Quest 2 hand tracking added to Meta’s Presence Platform

mark
By mark
Published: 24-05-2022
Updated: 28-03-2023

Hand tracking is now on Quest virtual reality headsets. In a new firmware update, hand tracking was added to Meta’s Presence Platform, enabling developers to feature hand tracking for Quest content.

Hand tracking update on Quest for the Meta Presence Platform

Quest 1 and 2 don’t require controllers anymore, as native hand-tracking was added in a 2.0 update to Meta’s Presence Platform. The update was rolled out in a firmware v39 update, compatible with Unity, Unreal Engine and Native. It will improve tracking continuity, gesture support, more reliable movement, better performance, hand overlapping and clapping.

What is the Meta Presence Platform?

The Presence Platform that received the hand tracking update is Meta’s development platform to create more realistic extended reality experiences. It includes Passthrough, Spatial Anchors, and Scene Understanding. Now, with the hand tracking update, the functionality just got better, with Meta stating that it is “a step-function improvement in tracking continuity”.

vr-hand-tracking-and-passthrough-mode-for-the-quest-2

What can you do with the hand tracking SDK

Visually, Meta released impressive examples of what this new hand tracking SDK (software development kit) and operating system update entails.

First one is “fast waving”.

The second is “object and clapping”.

The third is “hand on hand”.

However, as the hand tracking update is firmware-based, Quest users must wait until developers enable the functionality in the content and applications they use.

Read more: Meta / Oculus working on Haptic gloves

Conclusion

Hand tracking on the Oculus Quest 2 has been updated, providing better tracking performance, gesture support and generally more reliable movement. The update was rolled out in a firmware v39 update, compatible with Unity, Unreal Engine and Native. This new hand tracking SDK will improve tracking continuity and allow more realistic extended reality experiences.