Need a way to upgrade your collaboration sessions in the age of remote and hybrid work? Tools like Facebook Horizon Workrooms and AltSpaceVR could be the answer.
Video conferencing, chat, and phone calls can all help to bring distributed teams together. However, they often struggle to replace the presence and immersion of face-to-face meetings. Companies in search of a better way to bring their employees closer together for moments of true innovation are rapidly turning to VR as an alternative solution.
Virtual Reality environments allow users from all around the world to share the same digital environment when working on projects or new ideas. Facebook Horizon Workrooms and AltSpaceVR are just two examples of the solutions companies can use to access a new level of collaboration in VR. Let’s take a look at how the two offerings compare.
Facebook Horizon Workrooms: Features
Facebook Horizon Workrooms is an immersive VR and mixed reality environment built for the Oculus Quest 2. Intended to bring teams together in a shared virtual environment, the Horizon Workrooms space offers everything from digital whiteboarding, to custom virtual rooms. With video streaming, content sharing and remote screen sharing, teams can share ideas like never before, without having to be in the same physical space.
Your team members don’t all have to have a VR headset to get involved either. Cross-platform support means people can access Facebook Horizon Workrooms via a desktop, mobile or tablet too. Non-headset users can dial into meetings quickly, share their video, and even add their own input through documents, links, and more.
Features of Facebook Horizon Workrooms include:
- Oculus Remote desktop companion app
- Fantastic one-click access to VR environments
- Note-taking, file transfer, and screen sharing
- Convenient hand-tracking technology
- Spatial audio for immersion
- Customisable Oculus avatars
- High-quality, low-latency streaming
- Infinite virtual whiteboarding support
- Multiple room layouts to suit different use cases
- Space for up to 50 participants including 16 VR users
- Idea pinning and content export
- Administration and security controls
- Mixed reality keyboard and desk tracking
- Chat, voice, and video
- Calendar integrations
With calendar integration, so you can book follow-up meetings in real-time, and the option to export meeting content into the cloud, Facebook Horizon Workrooms has it all. You can even immerse yourself deeper into the virtual meeting with spatial audio. Alternatively, pull elements of the real world into your virtual space with keyboard and desk tracking.
AltspaceVR: Features
AltspaceVR is one of the most popular virtual meeting environments for businesses, events, education, and peer-to-peer conversations alike. Whether you’re hosting a meetup with colleagues or building a space where you can showcase your latest product features, this environment has it all. AltSpaceVR is suitable for use with a range of tools, including the Oculus, Windows Mixed Reality, and even 2D modes on PC.
The AltSpaceVR environment is ideal not just for meetings, but for extensive events in the digital environment too. With access to Microsoft Mesh, companies can design a premier experience to immerse visitors in unique, cross-platform experiences. Features include:
- Support for all major VR headsets
- 2D cross-platform support for non-headset attendees
- Customisable environments for meetings and events
- Easy to access with downloads on Steams
- Comprehensive access to people through a directory
- Privacy and security controls
- Extensive development features
- Camera options
- Custom avatar creation
- Private or public meeting spaces
- Amplify or mute your voice
- Microsoft Mesh enabled events
- Unlimited capacity and stage management
- Host panels
- Audience interaction tools
- Screen-share capabilities
The AltSpaceVR experience can be as simple or complex as the needs of your business dictate. There’s an SDK for building shareable apps, screen sharing capabilities, world-building tools, and simple environmental templates too. Connect with your audience through a host of interaction tools and give your hosts control over the meeting experience with a wide panel of features.
Facebook Horizon Workrooms vs AltSpaceVR: Which is Best?
Both AltSpaceVR and Facebook Horizon Workrooms have similar goals. These tools want to bring human beings closer together in a virtual environment when face-to-face interactions aren’t possible. Cross-platform for 3D and 2D attendees, immersive spaces, and customisable options make it easy to design the kind of powerful moments that transform your teams.
For simple meetings and collaboration, Facebook Horizon Workrooms helps people to stay productive and engaged in any environment. Your employees will have access to everything from screen and file sharing to mixed-reality keyboard tracking. The Horizon Workrooms space is easy to use, with support for all kinds of business use cases. Plus, we love the way the spatial audio helps to embed you into the virtual experience.
AltSpaceVR is a far more customisable environment for virtual collaboration, for teams who need to create something truly unique. You can adjust and alter almost every part of your landscape, adding all kinds of features for audience interaction, video, and screensharing. With access to the Microsoft Mesh ecosystem, companies can even build more incredible mixed reality spaces for modern events and conferences.
While AltSpaceVR can be a great location to have laid-back conversations with colleagues or host group meetings, it also has the capacity to scale much further than this, becoming the foundation for your virtual events too.
Which VR Collaboration Solution Should You Choose?
As always, the best VR collaboration solution isn’t a one-size-fits-all choice. The right tool for you will depend on your goals in virtual reality. If you’re looking for a comfortable and convenient way to give your employees access to a new level of teamwork, Horizon Workrooms by Facebook could be the perfect solution. It’s easy to use, accessible, and designed to support all kinds of team members, no matter what kind of technology they’re using.
AltSpaceVR is a slightly more comprehensive collaboration solution for today’s VR world. You can build meeting rooms here, but you can also work with developers to create completely unique event experiences capable of hosting countless people.
Which solution seems best for you?
