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Facebook's Prototype VR Face Tracking Got Even Better

UploadVR
Demos
YouTube
1 HN user recommended this demo1 month2020–2022 score 1.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Pointed to in metaverse and VR threads as proof that realtime photorealistic face tracking from headset cameras is coming.

UploadVR covers a Facebook Reality Labs prototype that tracks facial expressions using cameras mounted in a VR headset. The updated version captures subtle micro-expressions for realistic avatars.

“seriously jawdropping demo of facial tracking using a few cameras in a headset” (HN, 2021)

1 strong recommendations · 4 citations · Demos · partly dated

5 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@josephg Sep 2021 Strongly recommends
on HN thread What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week
> The author mentions lip syncing and hand tracking. That goes a long way, but it doesn't recreate the video experience to me. The oculus team put together a seriously jawdropping demo of facial tracking using a few cameras in a headset, combined with a lot of AI. The prototype was from a couple years ago. I can't wait until it makes it into commercial headsets. I wonder what the hold up is? Well worth a look if you haven't seen it: [this video]
Jawdropping Oculus demo of facial tracking from headset cameras plus AI.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@jp555 Aug 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Transparent OLEDs
It will ( [this video] ), and VR already conveys MUCH more of the micro-interactions of being with people that we are unknowingly blind to in Zoom meetings, which is one reason Zoom meetings are so draining.
Shows prototype VR face tracking conveying micro-expressions.
@microjim Mar 2022 Cites it
on HN thread Face-to-face interaction enhances learning, innovation
Title should be amended to something like 'Face-to-face, rather than shoulder-to-shoulder, enhances learning, innovation.' For a high quality face-to-face remote experience, I expect we'll start to see really impressive consumer ready technology announced soon. See what Facebook have been doing with cameras mounted in VR headsets [1] or Google's Project Starline [2]. That said, when we're doing this much transformation and synthesis of the raw data to achieve high-fidelity telepresence, are we going to have issues trusting it? [1] [this video] [2] [link]
Example of Facebook's headset-camera face tracking for remote presence.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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