Oculus Purchases Two New VR Companies
Facebook's $2 billion virtual reality company is growing. Now, it is joined by studios specializing hand-tracking and real-world scanning tech.
Oculus VR has acquired Nimble VR and 13th Lab, Polygon reports. For those who don't know, Nimble VR is a two-year-old company that has been working on a depth-sensing camera, called Nimble Sense, which helps scan Oculus Rift's users' hands and recognizes gestures while integrating it with the VR headset. It also focuses on skeletal hand-tracking software for the VR headset to use.
13th Lab uses real-time 3D construction framework to scan the reality around you and implement it into the VR landscape. Many of times, other VR programs had to use markers and receivers to help scan the area around the user, but 13th Lab's tech has evolved beyond that.
"The ability to acquire accurate 3D models of the real-world can enable all sorts of new applications and experiences, like visiting a one-to-one 3D model of the pyramids in Egypt or the Roman Colosseum in VR," an Oculus rep said.
Oculus VR has also hired Chris Bregler, a motion capture expert. Bregler is known for being a professor of computer science at NYU and helped motion track the special effects in 'Star Trek: Into Darkness' and 'The Lone Ranger.' He will be leading one of Oculus' vision research teams.
Here are some videos of Nimble VR and 13th Labs' works in action: