Microsoft Teams gets animated avatars that display facial expressions – vision and sound – news

Microsoft buys certain parts of Mixed realityBringing the Mesh platform to Teams. For example, early next year, Teams users should be able to set up animated avatars that mimic facial expressions based on a user’s voice.

Gods fall under Not for the difference And let users create a custom avatar to use in Teams meetings. This avatar can then replace the static image or video stream that users can now set. It appears that users will be able to customize the avatar’s face, hairstyle, and clothing, which are displayed from shoulder height.

Microsoft uses ‘ avatarsaudio signalsTo move the face of the avatar. The company says it uses this sound to show facial expressions. Users can also choose their own animation that can display additional facial expressions. Later, Microsoft also wants to enable the user’s camera to track the movements of the mouth and head, in order to improve the movements of the avatar.

Avatars Mesh works with laptops, smartphones, VR headsets, and HoloLens headsets. The idea is that users can be physically present in a meeting during the meeting, so that other users get the idea that they are video calling with a “real” person via, for example, their facial expressions. According to Microsoft, this is useful for people who are “tired” of long video call sessions, or for other reasons they don’t feel like posing in front of the camera.

These avatars are not limited to 2D video call streams, but can also be used in “virtual spaces”. Microsoft calls these spaces metaverses and says users can meet here, collaborate on things like electric cars or design a building, or have other social interactions. The fact that Microsoft calls this concept metaverses is astounding; other companies, like deadSee the metaverse as an open virtual platform that is also related to games, for example, and is not operated by a single company. At the moment, Microsoft has not disclosed integrations with other metaverse platforms, such as Meta.