Microsoft Teams users will soon be able to “meet” in 3D spaces by creating their own animated avatars that goes beyond routine voice and video conference calls.
Mesh, the company’s mixed reality platform, gives developers the tools they need to create 2D and 3D virtual environments that allow people in various locations to collaborate and share holographic experiences on Teams.
According to Microsoft research, just a small percentage of users still use their static photo or a bubble with their initials in online meetings.
Introduction to 3D avatars to Teams can help you to take part in meetings when you don’t feel like turning the camera on.
Microsoft’s John Roach said “It’s also a gateway to the metaverse — a persistent digital world that is inhabited by digital twins of people, places and things. Think of the metaverse as a new version — or a new vision — of the internet, one where people gather to communicate, collaborate and share with personal virtual presence on any device.”
Teams users can create customized 3D avatars and interact with avatars of other participants in the virtual environment.
These avatars may imitate user actions, using audio cues to make your face animation while you speak, as well as hand, head, and even facial movements to add more expression.
Mesh for Teams is also accessible through smartphone and laptop, not just through VR headsets or Microsoft’s own AR technology wing,the Hololens.
Within Teams, Microsoft intends to create immersive places known as metaverses. Mesh for Teams will launch with pre-built immersive spaces for meetings and social mixers in the beginning. It will also enable businesses to create metaverses within Teams where these avatars can “mix and mingle, collaborate on projects, and have those fortuitous encounters that ignite innovation.”
Accenture has tested this collaborating with Microsoft by builting a virtual campus for its employees to gather for coffees, presentations, parties and other events. They has been using the system to onboard new employees during the pandemic.