Oculus has begun the process of introducing a bunch of redesigned avatars that come across as being more expressive than their counterparts which came out in 2016. What makes them really interesting is the fact that they are customizable. They will now be appearing in a couple of the games made for the Quest VR platform including Topgolf with Pro Putt, PokerStars VR and Epic Roller Coasters.

These avatars will soon make an appearance in some of the other games like Synth Riders. Towards the end of 2021, these avatars are also expected to be seen in a brand-new game titled ForeVR Bowling.

The avatars, that have been launched today on the aforementioned games, appear to be more fleshed out than the earlier versions. For instance, you can see them with their legs in the editor. The new avatar editor gives the user the freedom to lay around with different combinations of eyes, piercings, hair, facial hair, clothing and other features while customizing these avatars. There is no gender toggle or a bunch of face presets that have been put together earlier.

Oculus Allows Users to Customize Avatars

The editor allows the user to get into the details of each facial feature including the nose, eyelids, wrinkles and the make-up on the face. You have the option to create an avatar that bears a strong resemblance to you or an exaggerated version of your own self that, you think, would look interesting on your social VR spaces.

By the time this year comes to an end, Oculus would have introduced SDK, its new avatar, to all its associates and developers. Facebook Horizon, the elaborately designed social VR playground of the company, will support these VR avatars. According to Oculus, games are just one of the many platforms wherein these refreshed avatars will make an appearance.

It has stated that the avatar created by the user will make an appearance in some or the other form in the Facebook app, Instagram, Messenger and other applications. However, this is something that the user will be given the choice to decide. At the moment, Oculus hasn’t revealed any details about how these avatars will appear to be on these applications and when that will happen. According to a company executive, they are “at the start of a long journey”.

The first-ever version of these avatars was introduced on the Oculus Rift platform in the year 2016. Product manager Mike Howard said initially all the avatars sported eyewear as they were not making an attempt to reproduce realistic facial features. The hand movement of these avatars was widely discussed at that time as Oculus had introduced its Touch controllers for the Rift.

A lot of thought has gone behind designing these avatars. These new avatars have been designed based on the ideas gathered from the Facebook Spaces which is not functional anymore and the Horizon experience that is presently in the beta-testing stage. Howard also remarked that these redesigned avatars are also inspired by different animation techniques.