Oculus is rolling out its highly anticipated hand tracking system for Oculus Quest this week along with an SDK, coming next week, that will let developers and creators unlock controller-free hand tracking in their Quest apps.
The upgrade comes with the v12 Quest software update. After installing the update, users can turn on hand tracking in the Experimental Features menu. In the initial release, users can use their hands to navigate and interact within Quest’s Home interfaces like Library and Store, plus in select apps like the Oculus Browser and Oculus TV. A new toggle switch in the Oculus Home menu will let users switch between hands and Touch controllers.
With the new SDK rolling out next week, developers and creators will be able to add support for hand gestures to their games and apps.
“We can’t wait to see what kinds of content they’ll dream up and ship as they build new experiences with hands: from more expressive gestures in social apps to more efficient workflows in business training modules, and more,” the company said in a blog post. “We hope hand tracking will make VR more approachable for newcomers to try by removing the need to learn controller functions. And for those who own Quest, when the hardware melts away you can be fully immersed in the magic of VR while connecting with others in a seamless, intuitive way.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the optical hand tracking system at the Oculus 6 event in San Jose in September.
The company said that it plans to add new features and functionality to improve the experience of hand tracking on Quest in 2020.
For more information, visit https://www.oculus.com/blog/introducing-hand-tracking-on-oculus-quest-bringing-your-real-hands-into-vr/
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