Reality Labs

Building connections through creativity and opening VR to everyone

By Rachel Franklin
October 10, 2017

We’ve seen that VR experiences are more meaningful when people who care about each other come together to share activities and immersive content.

Six months ago, our team launched the Facebook Spaces beta—our first step toward building VR as a social platform. People are using Spaces to connect with each other, express themselves, and have fun. And we’re continuing to build on that foundation.

Today, we announced new ways for people—including developers and artists—to create, share, and interact with engaging, immersive experiences like never before. We’re tapping into the Facebook platform to connect people across virtual and non-virtual worlds, so everyone can share VR experiences, no matter what device they’re on.

Giving Our Community More Power to Create Immersive Experiences
The world of social VR is still new, and we’re constantly learning how to bring meaningful experiences to people. The members of the VR community are our best guides for what to build next, so here’s how we’re empowering you to deliver content that appeals to you.

Introducing Kits
We launched Spaces with simple tools like markers and the selfie stick, which people are using in all sorts of unique ways. In the coming weeks, we’ll give everyone even more power to express themselves. With Kits, you can combine any mix of items into games, social activities, and more—then save your creations in your space or share them with friends.

Build with Us: New Developer Integrations
Next year, we want more developers to build content for Spaces. One of our early partners, Resolution Games, turned the Spaces table into a an ice fishing experience for you and your friends. Experiments like this are really exciting, and we’ll share more details on how developers can build with us next year.

Quillustrations—Now in Spaces

An emerging community of artists are pioneering brand new types of immersive media, like VR sculpting in Oculus Medium and painting with Quill. They’re reinventing the art world with 3D stories and films made specifically for VR. Now, we’re bringing Quillustrations directly into Spaces, so people can share them together with friends—like this short story from our resident artist, Goro Fujita.

Connecting People Across Virtual and Non-Virtual Worlds
With the growth of 360° media and entirely new types of native VR content, the ecosystem continues to evolve. We want to help creators share these experiences, both in VR and beyond the confines of a headset, so we’re linking VR to the Facebook platform in new ways to bring immersive content to everyone.

  • Facebook 3D Posts
    We introduced a new native 3D media type in Facebook News Feed. You can now post 3D objects from Oculus Medium and marker drawings from Spaces directly to Facebook as fully interactive 3D objects. Your friends can engage with your creations from their desktops and mobile phones. You can even bring 3D objects from News Feed into Spaces, so you can continue the fun in VR. Soon, we’ll open up support for even more VR content types, so stay tuned for future updates.
  • Live 360° Video
    Later this year, you’ll be able to stream full 360° video directly in Spaces in real time. Share cultural moments and explore the library of Facebook Live 360° content together with friends.

Just the Beginning
This is the start of the future, where everyone can share immersive experiences seamlessly across worlds and contribute their creativity to shape an entirely new ecosystem. We can’t wait to see what we’ll all build together, with developers, creators, and people coming together to share meaningful moments in VR and on Facebook—now with a whole new dimension.

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Reality Labs

Reality Labs brings together a world-class team of researchers, developers, and engineers to build the future of connection within virtual and augmented reality.