The VR world is still waiting for the long-awaited Microsoft Mesh. So far, only Hololens 2 owners and a few selected tenants can enjoy a preview. The VR glasses owners are currently still left empty-handed. But YouTuber John Moore now shows a way to participate in a Microsoft Teams meeting with his avatar and at least recreate the Mesh feeling. We’ll show you how easy it is in the following article.
What you need
– a suitable VR glasses (in the following tutorial the Meta Quest 2 is used)
– a laptop or computer to which you connect your VR glasses
– the VR app Immersed; including account and avatar
– the corresponding Desktop Immersed agent
– a Microsoft Teams account
Connect your VR glasses with your PC
You can find instructions for the Meta Quest used in the article at the following Link.
Install the Immersed VR App
Open your app store and install the Immersed VR app on your headset.
When you first start it, you will be asked to create an account and then design your own avatar. There are (almost) no limits to your creativity.
Install the Immersed Agent
Hint: it is recommended to start the Immersed Agent BEFORE launching the Immersed VR app and connecting the headset.
=> to set up the agent for the first time, please launch the Immersed VR app on the headset and set it up until the pairing code appears.
Navigate to: https://immersed.com/setup
Now you will be asked to sign in. If you haven’t already done so, you can create an account using the “LinkedIn”, “Facebook”, “Google” or “Email” options.
In the next step, the “Pairing Code” and “username” displayed in the VR app must be entered
Now the agent can be downloaded.
Now start the Immersed Agent.
If everything has worked, an “Agent Ready” should now appear in green.
Connect Immersed VR to your desktop PC
Follow the instructions on your glasses and connect your VR glasses with the
displayed pairing code with the Immersed Agent. If everything has worked, your desktop will now be transferred to the VR glasses.
For longer work, it makes sense to transfer the keyboard as well. In our shown case, the mouse and keyboard have to be navigated “blindly” with the help of the VR desktop.
Start a Microsoft Teams meeting
You can now navigate within the displayed screens.
Start a Microsoft Teams meeting via the calendar as usual.
Before the participation, the selection window for audio, camera, etc. appears.
Click on the “gear” symbol at the bottom right of the “Camera” button.
Under Video Settings you will now find the new option “Immersed Webcam”.
After selecting the “Immersed Webcam”, the camera function can now be activated by default via the slider. Teams now indicates that the webcam must be activated in VR.
Activate the Immersed Camera
To activate the webcam, raise your left arm/controller to activate the menu bar in Immersed. Then click on “MENU”.
In this MENU you will find, among many other practical functions, the tool “Webcam” at the bottom center.
When you click on the webcam icon, a virtual camera will promptly appear. After a few seconds, an avatar should also appear in the background of your team preview.
The virtual webcam can be moved around the room with your hand/controller. So you can adjust your angle and zoom as you want.
Enjoy the WOW effect as an avatar 🙂
After clicking on “Join now”, you can already participate in the Microsoft Teams meeting as an avatar. Your VR glasses record your sounds when you speak and make your avatar’s mouth move synchronously. When you move your hands/controllers, these are also transmitted 1:1.
Conclusion
The WOW effect for your colleagues is definitely worth dialing into a team meeting as an avatar. With the glasses, you can easily stay in a meeting for 1 hour or more.
With Microsoft Mesh, we will soon have the opportunity to participate in the Teams meeting as an avatar without VR glasses. I am very curious to see how the mixture of “real” people, avatars and camera ” off” will change our meetings.
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