Oculus Releases Mixed Reality Passthrough API on Quest 2 Headsets – Gaming – News

Oculus parent company Facebook has announced a new api that will let developers use mixed reality visuals in their Oculus Quest 2 games and apps. To do this, video images from the Oculus Quest 2 sensors are ‘mixed’ with virtual VR images.

An experimental version of the Passthrough API will be introduced in v31 of the Oculus SDK, Oculus reports in a blog post. With the API, VR developers can, among other things, process the black-and-white images from the four Oculus Quest 2 cameras in their apps and games. These images can then be modified, for example with color overlays.

Facebook mentions different usage scenarios for the feature. For example, productivity apps could display the physical keyboard of Quest 2 users in a virtual environment. For example, games could use the feature to place zombies in users’ living rooms, the company writes.

The Oculus Quest headsets and the Rift S already have a kind of pass-through function, which allows users to view what is happening in the real world while playing a game. Facebook lets however to know UploadVR that the new Passthrough API will only be available for the Oculus Quest 2 for now. The company further states that the video images will be processed by the Quest 2 itself and added to the VR app or game. According to the company, this means that apps and games that use the Passthrough API cannot save or view these camera images themselves.