Overview of the Technical Support Behind Metaverse: Interactive 3D, XR, AI and 5G

Content

Obstacles to the development of virtual reality

The function of Metaverse: connect virtual and reality

What is Metaverse?

Components of Metaverse

Metaverse and Interoperability 3D

-Threekit: 3D Content Production Platform

-Decentraland: An Interactive 3D Space

-StarLink: 3D Space on the Cosmic Scale

Metaverse and XR (AR&VR)

-The Difference Between VR and AR

-New Business Model

-New Work Scene

-New Social Mode

Metaverse and Gen Z

-Social Mode

-Consumer Attitudes

Metaverse and AI

Metaverse and 5G

A world gradually becoming virtual

With Internet technology promoting the development of the virtual world, human society is establishing stable and lasting virtual relationships, such as owning and decorating virtual spaces, and virtual resources that are scarce in different virtual ecosystems.

However, the development of virtual reality currently faces two major obstacles: 1) Lack of hardware. Existing virtual experiences are mostly supported by means of PC and tablet computer. Due to the limitation of hardware capabilities, the immersive effects that people experience have limitations. 2) Lack of a coherent cross-world ecosystem, that is, most virtual environments are intentionally restricted to specific games, goals, and communities, and it is difficult for people in different virtual environments to connect across various platforms.

The Metaverse is a shared space that connects the virtual world and the physical world of augmented reality. It solves the obstacles faced by virtual reality by establishing a collective and permanent connection to the virtual world.

The function of Metaverse: connect virtual and reality

The concept of Metaverse first appeared in Neil Stephenson’s science fiction novel Snow Crash, in which human-beings interact in the 3D world in the form of virtual avatars. With the development of Internet technology, this concept has gradually evolved new connotations. Now it is defined as “a collective virtual shared space, created by the fusion of virtual augmented physical reality and physical persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the Internet” on Wikipedia. In general, Metaverse is a digital world where anything we can imagine can exist. With the help of extended reality (XR) technology, we can expand our sense of sight, hearing and touch, integrate digital objects into the real world, or enter a fully immersive 3D environment at any time. Essentially, Metaverse will become a bridge between the physical world and the virtual digital world constructed by imagination.

Metaverse consists of many parts, including the Internet, media open standards (text, images, audio, video and 3D), programming language standards (including HTML, JavaScript, WebAssembly, WebXR) , WebGPU Shader Language, etc.), XR hardware (such as smart glasses, haptics and all-round treadmills), decentralized ledger and smart contract platforms (such as blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and non-homogeneous generation Currency NFT). This article will introduce the relationship between Metaverse and its basic hardware and introduce the interaction between Gen Z and Metaverse.

Metaverse and Interoperability 3D

Metaverse is a digital virtual space based on the real world, and it provides people with an experience that is closest to the real world. To realize the digitization of the real world, open standards for media are required, which include text, images, audio, video, 3D projects, 3D scenes and geometry, vectors, sequences, and programs that generate and combine these things. Among them, interactive 3D technology is the basic technology of Metaverse.

In Metaverse, high-quality user experience comes from immersion based on excellent 3D effects. 3D technology makes it possible to manufacture items in the virtual world, such as game equipment, and Metaverse makes it possible for users to bring items from one game world to another.

— Decentraland: An Interactive 3D Space

Decentraland is a 3D space where users can play games, visit museums and participate in live concerts, etc.With the enrichment of virtual scenes and the increase of virtual activities, in the future, providing users with 3D scene design services in Metaverse may also become a new work content for 3D designers.

— StarLink: 3D Space on the Cosmic Scale

Among the existing virtual world platforms, Decentraland is one of the fastest growing platform with 90,000 digital land assets. However, the system ecology is still based on the earth. In other words, Decentraland is the “reorganization” of real life rather than a “breakthrough” of life on the earth, while StarLink broadens the theme of the virtual world from earth to the immense universe.

StarLink is a virtual space based on blockchain technology, which can simulate a real-world space station located in the Milky Way. In StarLink, planets and satellites can be purchased and traded like land assets, and users can build their own planets. This will greatly surpass the development of cosmic exploration technology in the real world, and expand the scope of people’s activities in the virtual world from the earth to the entire universe.

Therefore, in the virtual world of the future, this is nothing can limit us but imagination. Anything that can be imagined can be created through 3D technology to create concrete virtual “entities”, even though they do not exist in the real world.

-Threekit: 3D Content Production Platform

As the virtual world continues to develop, the use cases of virtual products will become clearer, and virtual versions of products will create new business opportunities for businesses.

Threekit is an extensible platform for generating 3D virtual content. Users can use it to generate 3D models of the entire configurable product catalog, or use non-functional testing to protect each unique configuration of the product, and allow only one owner for each custom variant.

Metaverse and XR (AR&VR)

-The Difference Between VR and AR

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that calculates the position and angle of the camera image in real time and adds the corresponding image. It is a new technology that seamlessly integrates real world information and virtual world information. The goal of this technology is to put the virtual world on the screen and interact with the real world.

Virtual reality technology (VR), also known as spiritual world technology, is a brand-new practical technology developed in the 20th century. Virtual reality technology includes computer, electronic information and simulation technology. The basic realization method is that the computer simulates the virtual environment, which gives people a sense of immersion in the environment.

The fundamental difference between virtual reality and augmented reality is their relationship with the real world. Simply put it, virtual reality is “what you see is virtual”, and augmented reality is “combination of virtual and reality.” What users see and feel by using VR technology are completely separated from the real world. Everything the user sees through wearable devices does not exist in the real world, but can obtain an immersive sensory experience through vision, hearing, and touch; while AR is It takes the real world as the background board, and adds some virtual images to it to integrate with the real world.

— Create A More Realistic Virtual Experience

Metaverse is a shared virtual space that allows individuals to interact with other users in the digital environment. It constructs a virtual world that allows people to exist in a concrete virtual image, just like living in a world. VR technology will allow users to get a more realistic and specific experience in the virtual world, making the virtual world and the real world more similar to each other; AR technology can integrate the virtual world and reality more closely. In the future, maybe the personal image in the virtual world will also become a component of the image attributes of the person in the real world.

Metaverse can create a complete world based on augmented reality technology (XR, including VR and AR), which allows us to experience a more realistic version than the existing VR experience. The access space in the VR experience is usually static, and it will not change after it is built. In Metaverse, the content is created by users and can be changed at any time. For example, in StarLink, all artists, musicians, 3D designers, writers, and filmmakers can use various development tools to create creations, which brings unlimited possibilities.

— New Business Model

At present, teams of technical experts from all walks of life are working with subject matter experts to try new concepts and applications of AR, VR and Metaverse. Some large consumer and media brands, such as sports shoes, cosmetics and furniture retailers, have already provided AR applications that users can use their smartphones to try on shoes or try new sinks in the guest bathroom. These experiences will be transformed into an immersive Metaverse store.

In the post-pandemic era, virtual shopping methods such as virtual clothing fittings and virtual car showrooms can effectively solve the inconvenience of offline shopping caused by epidemic prevention measures such as isolation and closure. Perhaps, within a few years, people will be able to buy any virtual goods in Metaverse.

— New Work Scene

In the traditional work model, employees usually need to go to a centralized office for on-site work, which creates obstacles to the flow and reasonable distribution of talents. The global outbreak of the new crown epidemic has forced home telecommuting to be the only choice in the workplace for a long time; online conference platforms such as zoom have become important tools for telecommuting. However, in this process, the shortcomings of the online meeting platform have gradually become prominent-lack of participation will make employees exhausted, audio and video jams will affect the efficiency of the meeting, some office tools and documents are not stored at home, for work bring inconvenience.

The combination of VR and AR technology and Metaverse will create a new virtual reality workspace and solve the limitations of traditional zoom and other platforms. In Metaverse, employees can communicate with the team through devices from any corner of the globe. In addition, no matter when and where they are, people can create a vast virtual workspace in the space around them, and use VR headsets to connect to their computers or other devices remotely. When they take off their headsets at the end of the day and close the virtual world, the workspace disappears. Therefore, virtual reality will also make the workspace more concise.

— New Social Mode

Many social software in the European and American markets, such as Facebook, Apple Message, and Snapchat, are vigorously developing the social AR market to enhance the AR experience of users in online social networking.

The NFT market will enable all artists to create and sell their own fan art within the StarLink concept and framework-space themes and Metaverse works will be obtained from our community creators and create a powerful economic model. With the continuous expansion and development of StarLink, the economic incentives brought by gamification and the ability to make money from playing games can be created through various mechanisms to be announced.

Metaverse and Gen Z

Gen Z refers to people born between 1995 and 2009, also known as the Internet generation and the Internet generation. Their social and consumption methods are deeply affected by the Internet.

-Social Mode

In the process of Metaverse changing people’s social mode, Generation Z will be the most affected and become the main audience of the new social mode.

Generation Z’s reliance on virtual social networking will force social media to deepen the integration with Metaverse to adapt to the preferences of Generation Z. Many businesses view virtual social media as a means to enter the Gen Z consumer group. This generation of people between the ages of 6 and 24, covering more than 80% of them, not only loves personalized virtual characters, but is also willing to make related payments in virtual currency on the platform.

-Consumer Attitudes

In addition to the social model, Generation Z’s consumption concept is also different from that of their parents, and their acceptance of virtual products is higher.

In July of this year, French luxury brand Dior reached a partnership with South Korean social software Zepeto to design exclusive virtual makeup for online users, which can be used to take photos and record videos.

Coincidentally, luxury brand Gucci is also cooperating with Roblox, the world’s largest multiplayer online creation game, this year, setting up a Gucci virtual garden on Roblox and launching Roblox’s limited digital Gucci products. Users can buy virtual collectibles and limited-edition Gucci accessories for US$1.20 to US$9. Game users can purchase these limited virtual products to dress up their avatars. This cooperation enabled Gucci to quickly gain the favor of many generation Z consumers.

For many parents, this behavior of paying real money for virtual equipment is as incomprehensible as charging money in a game, but for generation Z groups, there is not much difference between virtual consumption and real-world consumption.

Gen Z, who grew up in the Internet age, have a higher acceptance of online games, universe exploration, digital music, digital video, and even digital artwork, and they are more willing to make personalized expressions. In the future, they will become the pioneer audience of virtual consumption, and their consumption preferences will also lead the development of virtual consumption.

— NFT makes virtual consumption possible

Similar items manufactured and traded in Metaverse are called non-fungible tokens (NFT). NFTs are digital objects supported by blockchain technology that can prove their authenticity and are usually unique. NFT can be anything, from personalized “skins” or clothing, used for avatars to digital art, it can be traded infinitely, and the value of each transaction may increase. In Metaverse, their ownership is not limited to any single platform, so a wide range of cross-platform transactions can be realized.

Metaverse and AI

One of the most important and neglected aspects of Metaverse is artificial intelligence, which has many use cases:

•Artificial intelligence can be used to create, audit and protect smart contracts. The combination of artificial intelligence and Metaverse can improve the ability to perform credible digital analysis and decision-making on large amounts of data. Artificial intelligence can centrally manage and store large amounts of data, and adjust the dynamic parameters of smart contracts through machine learning to provide a personalized governance mechanism; but artificial intelligence is vulnerable to hacker attacks, and the application of blockchain technology can better protect privacy, create more secure data, adjust conflicts between devices that cannot trust each other, and improve the convenience of smart contracts.

• Artificial intelligence can free people in the virtual world from repetitive tasks. At present, artificial intelligence has been able to make predictions and simple creations through a large amount of data learning, helping people reduce repetitive tasks, quickly acquire skills, and improve the accuracy of work and reduce human errors. In the virtual world, the avatar can quickly learn a skill with the help of artificial intelligence. This kind of high-quality learning data will greatly improve people’s learning efficiency.

• Artificial intelligence can enrich the biological forms in the virtual world. At present, artificial intelligence has a certain creative ability, which can create brand-new artificial intelligence creatures, interact with human users, and form an interactive ecology with each other.

• In Metaverse, artificial intelligence can become an important source of creative activities. On the basis of a large amount of learning, artificial intelligence can carry out independent creation and create new digital content.

Metaverse is a world composed of data, which provides a wealth of learning materials and processing objects for artificial intelligence. With the development of artificial intelligence, in the future, they may become tools for humans to build virtual worlds. Humans only need to input text instructions, and artificial intelligence can output them into a fully immersive 3D environment, allowing people to explore and explore. interactive.

Metaverse and 5G

The Internet is one of the basic elements of Metaverse. The basis of the meta-universe is shared data, shared computing, and shared bandwidth. When they are combined, they can expand the range of things we can accomplish together as a species.

Building fully interactive 3DMetaverses requires massive amounts of textured media from videos and immersive sounds, which relies on a large number of digital files that are much denser than the file types required for video or other content. The peak upload and download speed of 5G is significantly faster than 4G and can handle these larger files. More and more 5G accesses can support the continuous development of Metaverse by providing the speed and ability to make the digital world run normally. Currently, mobile hardware companies are also developing devices that support 5G to enable them to run devices that support Metaverse.

In the future, people can perform various activities in Metaverse to achieve a good XR experience. A faster and lower latency network is required to allow large amounts of data to be transmitted between cloud servers and people’s devices. 5G, especially 5G using millimeter wave spectrum, will open up various possibilities, such as VR experiences that include haptics.

Metaverse offers many possibilities, but how the possibilities unfold depends on 5G. Metaverse will need faster network speed and capabilities to fully optimize future applications and continue to promote progress. It is essential to pay attention to these puzzling and evolving applications. Metaverse transformation is global. It affects all of us.

Although it is impossible to determine the specific time, it is certain that the metaverse era is rushing to us with unprecedented momentum.