Businesses around the world have turned to video conferencing software such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams as a means to hold meetings during the coronavirus outbreak but interacting with coworkers does prove somewhat difficult when behind a webcam.
This is why HTC has announced that the beta version of its remote collaboration and meeting platform for VR, VIVE Sync will be available free of charge for businesses and remote employees during the pandemic.
VIVE Sync, from first-party developer 2 Bears Studio and HTC, supports up to 30 attendees simultaneously and features full body tracking so that participant’s personally created avatars can communicate using their actual body language.
The platform also supports Tobii eye tracking, which is embedded in headsets such as the VIVE Pro Eye, for more natural lifelike interactions with virtual colleagues or clients.
VIVE Sync
Working with your company’s files in VR is also easy as Sync integrates with Microsoft OneDrive and OneDrive for business and supports many popular file formats from PowerPoints to PDFs to videos.
However, one of the biggest advantages that VIVE Sync offers is the ability to work with 3D content in VR. Instead of looking at 3D models on a 2D screen as you would with other video conferencing services, Sync lets you bring them into your virtual space and review them together with your team. The software supports FBX and OBJ files, as well as Unity Asset Bundles, which makes it easy to upload, import and review all of your 3D assets.
AVP of Content Development & Production at HTC VIVE, David Sapienza explained how Vive Sync allows remote teams and employees to interact with each other more naturally, saying:
Unlike any other tool or medium, VR has the ability to connect and engage remote teams and employees as if they were together in the same physical room. Vive Sync enables colleagues and partners across the world to interact in a shared virtual space, increasing productivity, collaboration and team chemistry. The future of work is rapidly becoming more global and more remote and VR is the solution needed to succeed in this new reality.”
If you and your team have access to VR headsets and have grown tired of staring at a screen all day long, you can test VIVE Sync out for yourself for free.