What does a Metaverse home look like? Developer shows demo

Image: Greg Madison

Greg Madison, Unity’s user experience wizard, shows off his latest interface experiment. He offers a preview of digital life in the age of the metaverse.

There are numerous definitions of multi-layered metaverse: from purely virtual 3D worlds to a full digital extension of the real world. What exactly is the metaverse? There is still no consensus on this.

Beyond these more theoretical debates, however, the basic premise of the metaverse can be described in one simple sentence: Reality is becoming more digital and digital is becoming more real. Greg Madison, UX designer at Unity, vividly demonstrates this in his latest demo.

Real and virtual: the line is blurry

For her new project, Madison created a digital twin of an apartment. Using a 3D engine, she built a virtual version of the apartment in the exact dimensions of this digital twin, which she can see and walk through in virtual reality via a VR headset. The idea is not new; there have already been numerous demos of this type in recent years.

Madison, on the other hand, wants to illustrate something else, namely the continuous change between realities: reality as we mainly know it and virtual reality. Madison calls the two forms of reality “augmented real virtual” and “de-augmented virtual reality”.

For her demonstration, Madison created a small digital window through which she can look from one world to another. In augmented virtual reality, she looks through the window into the virtual reality apartment. In de-augmented virtual reality, she looks from the virtual apartment to the real one. The transition between worlds works smoothly.

Video: Greg Madison

So Madison’s apartment exists twice: in the standard real version and in a virtual real version. Thanks to VR and AR, Madison can move into both apartments or a hybrid, as long as she is wearing a VR and AR-enabled tech headset.

With Meta Quest 2, which Madison uses in her demo, AR passthrough works rudimentary in black and white. With future devices like Quest Pro and a possible Apple headset, this world of mixed reality will be possible with higher quality and color.

“Many digital levels at the same time”

“However, many times as marketing will rename alternate realities, we will eventually go through many digital levels at the same time. That revolution starts in your home, ”Madison comments in her video.

The former UX wizard and pro is known for his demo videos, which are meant to give an idea of ​​a future in a mixed digital-real world. In the past, Madison has shown a mixed reality apartment such as an arcade and semi-virtual computer, among other things.

Madison also provides a demo of the XR mixed world in the “Shapes XR” 3D design tool for Meta Quest. The app is available for free in the Oculus Store. Use the code “EW9XZ5A5” to enter the room Madison has set up.

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