Category: Manus

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Manus Begins Pre-orders for Latest VR Gloves, Quantum Metagloves

VR glove creator Manus has launched pre-orders for its latest device, Quantum Metagloves, an input solution targeted at enterprise users. The Netherlands-based company is looking to offer up more precise finger tracking than not only its past VR gloves, but also optical trackers current used in the industry.

Manus launched pre-orders for Quantum Metagloves last week, stating that expected shipping begins sometime in early Q3, which could likely take place in the September timeframe.

The enterprise-focused gloves start at $9,000 (€7,500), and include a perpetual license and a 2-year warranty. That pricing reflects the base unit without 6DOF positional tracking though, but Quantum Metagloves feature optional modules that hook into Xsens, OptiTrack, and SteamVR tracking standards.

If you haven’t seen our hands-on with the Quantum Metagloves, here’s a quick rundown of how they work. Unlike past Manus gloves, the company’s latest uses a magnetic base placed on the back of the palm. Each finger is tracked magnetically via corresponding modules snuggly placed on the each finger’s tip.

While this doesn’t include haptic feedback, the company told us at GDC 2022 that it was working on a haptic version of the Quantum Metagloves, which would include per-finger haptics to enhance immersion in VR.

At any rate, the gloves offered some promising results when it came to beating occlusion and demonstrating fine finger movements. Make sure to check out all of our early impressions from GDC 2022 in March to see it in action and find out more.

Here’s a look at what comes in the box:

  • A set of Manus Quantum Metagloves
  • A perpetual Manus Core Pro license
  • Wireless Manus Dongle
  • Three full sets of finger caps (1/2/3)
  • One full set of finger tapes
  • Three sets of liner gloves (S/M/L)
  • Timesync cable
  • Manus Travel Case

Manus is also running a trade-in discount program which will allow owners users of a number of past products to get Quantum Metagloves for €2500 / $3000 off retail price. These include owners of Prime II, Prime II Haptic, Prime II Xsens, Prime X, Xsens Gloves by Manus, and OptiTrack Gloves by Manus. Visit Manus to learn more about trade-ins and pre-orders.

Technical Specifications

  • Signal Latency ≤ 5ms
  • Finger Sensors Absolute position, 3 axis rotation
  • Sensor sample rate 120Hz
  • Battery life 4 hours (swappable)
  • Weight 70 grams
  • Wireless communication High Performance 2.4 Ghz Protocol
  • Wireless range Up to 15 meters
  • Wired communication USB Type-C
  • Finger attachments Finger caps, finger tapes, liner gloves
  • Glove Textiles One size fits all (washable)

The post Manus Begins Pre-orders for Latest VR Gloves, Quantum Metagloves appeared first on Road to VR.

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Pre-orders Begin for Manus’ $9000 Quantum Metagloves

During the Game Developers Conference (GDC) back in March data glove specialist, Manus showcased its next-generation of finger tracking gloves, the Quantum Metagloves. Today, the company has announced that pre-orders for the new gloves have begun, with a pair setting customers back an eye-opening $9000 USD (€7500 EUR).

Manus Quantum Metagloves
Quantum Metagloves – Image credit: Manus

Just like Manus’ previous models, the Quantum Metagloves are focused on enterprise use but even so, these are the company’s most expensive gloves to date. They utilise what Manus calls its new Quantum Tracking technology to provide millimetre accurate finger tracking, thus creating precise hand data and recreation of a user’s hand.

In combination with Manus Core software, the Quantum Metagloves can stream hand and finger data directly into Unreal or Unity or record it to export into animation software like Blender and Maya. As you’d expect from $9k gloves, the sensors are adaptable depending on the situation. The stretchable finger caps are designed for quick, comfortable use or use Manus Finger Tape for those action scenes.

“The new Quantum Tracking technology has enabled us to achieve a new level of detail in finger tracking. As part of the detailed and lifelike finger tracking, we’ve also added tracking of the flexion of the palm of the hand,” says Bart Loosman, CEO of Manus in a statement. “As such, this generation of gloves takes the detail of capture to a new level, allowing creators to convey more emotion and intent through their performance than before. In addition, this level of detail will save significant time in cleanup and post-processing, enabling creators to reach their desired results quicker and easier.”

Manus Quantum Metagloves
Quantum Metagloves – Image credit: Manus

Manus Quantum Metagloves Technical Spec

  • Signal Latency – ≤ 5ms
  • Finger Sensors – Absolute position, 3 axis rotation
  • Sensor sample rate – 120Hz
  • Battery life4 hours (swappable)
  • Weight – 70 grams
  • Wireless communication – High Performance 2.4 Ghz Protocol
  • Wireless range – Up to 15 meters
  • Wired communication – USB Type-C
  • Finger attachments – Finger caps, finger tapes, liner gloves
  • Glove Textiles – One size fits all (washable)

The Manus Quantum Metagloves will come in three flavours, the standard model followed by versions compatible with Xsens and OptiTrack systems. They’ll all retail for the same $9000, which includes a perpetual license and a 2-year warranty. Shipping is expected to begin in September.

There’s good news if you’re already a Manus customer as a trade-in offer is available. Should you happen to own the Prime II, Prime II Haptic, Prime II Xsens, Prime X, Xsens Gloves by Manus, or OptiTrack Gloves by Manus then you’ll be eligible for a $3000/€2500 discount.

For the rest of us who don’t have a spare nine grand for VR gloves available then there’s always the new 2.0 hand tracking update for Meta Quest. For all the latest Manus updates, keep reading gmw3.

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Latest Manus VR Gloves Promise New Levels of Finger Tracking Accuracy

At GDC 2022 this week, VR glove creator Manus revealed its new Quantum Metagloves which the company says delivers significantly more accurate finger tracking than its prior solutions. Though priced for enterprise use, the company says it one day hopes to deliver the tech to consumers.

Manus has been building motion gloves for use in real-time VR and motion capture for years now, with prior offerings being based on IMU and flex-sensor tracking.

The company’s latest product, the Quantum Metagloves, moves to a new magnetic tracking approach which purportedly offers significantly more accurate finger tracking, especially when it comes to self-contact (ie: fingers touching other fingers or the palm of the hand).

Revealed at GDC 2022 for the first time, Manus showed off a demo of the Quantum Metagloves using a realistic real-time hand model that mirrored the wearer’s finger movements. Though the gloves are designed to work in conjunction with 6DOF tracking (via a SteamVR tracker or other motion tracking tech), the GDC demo didn’t employ 6DOF (which is why the visualization of the arm rotates in place). The latency reflected in this setup is also purportedly not representative of the actual tracking latency.

The Quantum Metagloves have a magnetic base positioned on the back of the palm while each finger has a module on the tip that is sensed within the magnetic field. Manus says this means the gloves can detect absolute finger length and width (once calibrated), which enables more accurate hand-tracking when combined with an underlying skeletal model of the hand that is scaled dynamically to the user.

Photo by Road to VR

In the video I asked the demonstrator to make a handful of different poses. Indeed, finger-to-finger and finger-to-palm contact looked impressive with no obvious clipping or stuttering. The company told me the demo wasn’t specially programmed to make clipping impossible and that the behavior was purely thanks to the positional data of the sensors which was described as “very clean” compared to alternative approaches to finger tracking.

Manus says the Quantum Metagloves are unique in this way, as other finger tracking technology tends to break down in these sorts of close-contact and self-contact scenarios, especially when both hands are near or touching each other. Even expensive optical tracking systems (with markers on the tips of each finger) can be foiled easily by self-occlusion or one hand occluding the other. Similarly, purely IMU-based finger tracking is prone to drift and requires regular recalibration.

But magnetic tracking is by no means perfect. In other magnetic tracking systems we’ve seen challenges with latency and electromagnetic interference.

Manus admitted that holding metallic or electronic items could throw off the tracking, but says it worked hard to ensure the gloves don’t interfere with each other; up to eight gloves can be active near each other without interference issues, the company says.

While self-contact looked generally quite good with the Quantum Metagloves, other poses didn’t fare quite as well—like a completely clenched first. The demonstrator suggested this would be improved easily with a more robust calibration process that included similar poses; whereas they say the calibration used for the demo at GDC was designed to be quick and easy for purposes of the show.

Photo by Road to VR

While the finger tracking did look great in many of the demos I saw, some of the other demo gloves on display showed much less accuracy. This was chalked up to “calibration,” though a big question for such systems is how much said calibration drifts over time and whether the periods between recalibration are practical for a given use-case.

In any case, use-cases will be deeply constrained by price; Manus says a pair of the Quantum Metagloves will cost $9,000, with pre-orders opening in April and shipments expected by the end of Q3. The company says it also plans to launch a haptic version of the Quantum Metagloves which will include per-finger haptics to enhance immersion in VR.

Manus maintains that it would like to bring its gloves to consumers one day, but says the number of custom parts and manufacturing makes it difficult to get the price down to a reasonable level.

The post Latest Manus VR Gloves Promise New Levels of Finger Tracking Accuracy appeared first on Road to VR.

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Manus Launches its Free Motion Capture Software Polygon

Manus Polygon

Manus specialises in building enterprise-level data gloves with precision finger tracking and haptic feedback for a range of use cases including virtual reality (VR). The company is moving beyond pure hardware solutions today by releasing Manus Polygon, motion capture software that’s SteamVR compatible and free to download.

Manus Polygon

Designed as an entry point for developers looking for a simple motion capture solution without the expense, Polygon Free enables live streaming of body data into Unity or Unreal Engine. When it comes to tracker support, Polygon can be used with any SteamVR compatible device, from the Vive controllers for a basic setup to Manus’ own SteamVR Pro Trackers or the Vive Trackers. And, of course, the software is compatible with the company’s own Prime X series gloves.

For a basic motion tracking setup beyond merely using controllers, developers need enough trackers to cover six points, hands, feet, waist and head. With a VR headset on that means five extra trackers are required. Polygon can support more though, adding further trackers to the upper arms to finesse that digital avatar movement.

“At Manus, we believe in a future where content creation in the virtual world becomes as integrated as video is currently. Convincing full-body motion capture will play a large part in the adoption and creation of the metaverse,” says Bart Loosman, CEO at Manus in a statement. With this release, we invite developers and content creators to dive into full-body motion capture and explore the opportunities this offers for VR, animation, digital avatars, virtual production, and the coming metaverse.”

Manus Polygon

Manus Polygon Free provides all the software functionality developers might need to get started, with Polygon Pro and Polygon Elite offering further professional features. Polygon Pro features recording and editing tools within the Manus Core, as well as FBX exporting, timesync and genlock. Pro users will also get the Manus Strap Set to attach SteamVR compatible trackers. Taking that a step further is Polygon Elite which includes the Pro bundle, a perpetual license, and Manus SteamVR Pro Trackers and a charging station.

The Manus SteamVR Pro Trackers were announced earlier this year with pre-orders being taken for them individually. On the Manus website currently, they only seem to come in a 6-pack retailing for €1,999 EUR, available Q4 2021. By comparison, six Vive Trackers would set you back €834.

For continued updates from Manus, keep reading VRFocus.

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Manus stellt neue SteamVR Tracker vor

Tower Tag auf Steam

Das Unternehmen Manus, bekannt für seine VR-Handschuhe, startet heute die Vorbestellungen für eine neue Variante der SteamVR Tracker, welche sich speziell an Unternehmen richten soll.

Manus stellt neue SteamVR Tracker vor

Die Tracker von Manus sollen mit mehr Sensoren ausgestattet sein als die Tracker von HTC und damit ein akkurateres Tracking ermöglichen. Zudem sollen sie 44% leichter und deutlich kleiner sein und austauschbare Akkus verwenden, wodurch eine Laufzeit von 4,5 Stunden möglich sein soll.

Die Tracker von Manus könnt ihr ab sofort für 299 Euro je Stück vorbestellen. Ein zusätzlicher Akku schlägt mit 75 Euro zu Buche. Der Spaß ist also nicht besonders günstig, aber deshalb wendet sich Manus mit den Trackern auch speziell an andere Unternehmen und nicht an Heimanwender.

Hier findet ihr alle weiteren Informationen zu den neuen Trackern von Manus und die Möglichkeit zur Vorbestellung.

(Quelle: Manus)

Der Beitrag Manus stellt neue SteamVR Tracker vor zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

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Manus Announces SteamVR Tracker for Professional Creators, Pre-orders Now Open

Manus, the Netherlands-based startup behind a number of VR gloves, today announced pre-order availability for the company’s first professional-level SteamVR tracker.

Called the Manus Pro Tracker, the company says the device is designed specifically for SteamVR-based motion capture, virtual production and full-body VR. It’s primarily designed to work with the company’s Prime II Series Motion Capture and Virtual Reality gloves, however an optional strap set can also allow users to mount it to different parts of the body.

Manus Pro Tracker, which is available for pre-order starting today for €300 ($360), uses the company’s interchangeable battery system which promises up to 4.5 hours of battery life with continuous use. Recharging the battery can either be done over USB-C (one-hour charge time) or by using the company’s Manus Charger dock to recharge multiple batteries.

Image courtesy Manus

“After years of using SteamVR Tracking, we are excited to launch our own SteamVR enabled product,” said Bart Loosman, CEO at Manus. “We have been amazed by the accuracy and ease-of-use of this tracking solution for a long time. As one of the very first companies in the world to get access to the SteamVR technology, we hope to improve the workflow of creative professionals around the world with our very own professional tracker.”

Manus says its Pro Tracker includes “the latest sensors of its kind” and more sensors than any SteamVR tracker currently available. The obvious point of comparison is the official HTC Vive Tracker, which is notably heavier than Manus Pro Tracker at 62 g, or 44% lighter than the 89 g Vive Tracker. Another upcoming competitor in the space is the Tundra Tracker, which is headed to Kickstarter in March.

The post Manus Announces SteamVR Tracker for Professional Creators, Pre-orders Now Open appeared first on Road to VR.

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Manus Reveals Professional-Grade SteamVR Tracker

Enterprise-focused VR hardware maker Manus is today announcing a new take on the SteamVR Tracker.

The company’s new professional-grade Tracker launches pre-orders today. According to the company, the device features more sensors for accurate SteamVR tracking, as well as an interchangeable battery that apparently offers four and a half hours of use on a full charge. Check out a first look at them in the trailer below.

New SteamVR Tracker Revealed

Previously the only other company to make a Tracker peripheral for SteamVR was HTC. The puck-shaped device is tracked by Valve’s base stations just as headsets like the Index and Vive and their respective controllers are. These pucks can be attached to real-world objects and developers can mirror them in VR. You might, for example, use a replica gun in a VR shooter or a racket in a tennis game for added immersion.

Manus itself previously used the Trackers for hand-tracking on its pair of professional-grade gloves. In June of last year, the company launched Polygon, a platform that combined a number of technologies — including the Trackers — for a full-body VR tracking solution. Manus says its new solution is 44% lighter than HTC’s offering, coming in at 62 grams.

Manus hasn’t revealed a price for the new Trackers, but given that it’s intended for use by companies, it’s safe to say it probably won’t be cheap for consumers. SteamVR Trackers, by and large, haven’t been embraced by many games and entertainment apps considering the extra clutter and price they add to already-messy and expensive PC VR setups, but make great sense for enterprise use.

What do you make of the new SteamVR Tracker? Let us know in the comments below!

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Manus Introduces its Pro SteamVR Tracking Solution

Manus Pro Tracker

While the closest most consumers have come to hand tracking in virtual reality (VR) is dabbling with Oculus Quest’s built-in system, enterprise and pros using PC VR headsets have had a much greater array of choice. Manus is one company specialising in this particular field, having released its Manus Prime II gloves in 2020. Today, the company has unveiled a new peripheral, its Manus Pro Trackers for SteamVR setups.

Manus Pro Tracker

Manus’ gloves have an array of bend sensors and haptics depending on the model but they always rely on external solutions like the Vive Trackers for 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) positioning. With the new Manus Pro Trackers that’s no longer the case – where SteamVR is involved.

Manus’ own in-house design has improved the standard Vive Tracker, offering a smaller, lighter product, ideal for attaching to the back of your hand. Weighing in at 62 grams the company states: “The tracker is 44% lighter when compared to available alternatives.” The device also comes with an interchangeable battery providing 4.5 hours of use, then easily swapped over if customers have spares.

Other key features of the Manus Pro Tracker include more sensors than other SteamVR trackers on the market, one-hour charging via a USB-C cable and multiple mounting options. It can be attached to the Prime II gloves, onto any camera through its cold shoe, or onto props using the 1/4″ camera thread adapter and 3M adhesive tape adapter. Plus there’s an optional strap-set to attach the tracker to yourself for full-body tracking.

Manus Pro Tracker

“After years of using SteamVR Tracking, we are excited to launch our own SteamVR enabled product. We have been amazed by the accuracy and ease-of-use of this tracking solution for a long time,” said Bart Loosman, Manus CEO in a statement. As one of the very first companies in the world to get access to the SteamVR technology, we hope to improve the workflow of creative professionals around the world with our very own professional tracker.”

Pre-orders for the Manus Pro Tracker begin today, retailing for €299 EUR. Towards the end of 2020, the company reduced the price of its Prime II range of gloves, so now they start from €1,499 or €2,499 for the haptic version.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Manus, reporting back with its latest updates.

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Manus Polygon Available Now, Offering Full VR Body And Hand Tracking

As announced back in March, orders and licenses for Polygon, the VR body and tracking system from Manus, can now be placed online. Prices for the full Polygon system are not listed, but quotes can be requested on the Manus site.

Manus Polygon is a tracking system that combines Vive Tracker pucks in addition to hand-tracking via a separate glove in order to provide a full-body solution for enterprise VR. To achieve this, the system uses 5 Vive Trackers in total — one on each foot, one on your waist and one of the back of each hand — in combination with Manus’ fully-body inverse kinematics solver and its Prime II Series gloves.

The idea is that the system is easy to set up and eliminates the need for any kind of full body suit to achieve full body tracking. The system also supports multiple users for multiplayer and can produce synchronized and accurately proportioned human avatars from the data. There is a 45 second calibration process, and the finger tracking from the gloves can measure 2 joints per finger and with 11DoF tracking.

Obviously this is an enterprise-focused project, so don’t expect to see any of this integration in your favorite VR games.

While we haven’t tried Polygon ourselves, we did try Manus gloves on one of our episodes of the VR Culture Show in November last year, which you can watch below.

Purchasing the Polygon pack also includes plugins to implement the system in Unity and Unreal. One year licenses for the Polygon system are available to order via a quote on the Manus site now.

The post Manus Polygon Available Now, Offering Full VR Body And Hand Tracking appeared first on UploadVR.

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Manus Polygon Mixes Full VR Body And Hand-Tracking For Multiplayer Use

Manus, the VR company that offers enterprise-level hand-tracking solutions, this week revealed a new full-body tracking solution to complement its existing offerings.

Called Manus Polygon, the system works using Vive Tracker pucks. The original Manus solutions already use two of these sensors attached to the backs of your hands to track their positions in virtual space. The sensors utilize the same SteamVR base-stations that track the HTC Vive and Valve Index headsets.

Manus Polygon GIF

But Polygon adds another Tracker to your waist and two on your feet. We’ve seen full body tracking of this sort in plenty of other applications before (HTC itself was keen to highlight its use). But it’s in the mix of hand-tracking that makes this solution stand out.

In theory, this could take Manus a step beyond some competing VR body tracking systems. Other body tracking systems do sometimes offer finger-tracking, but we’ve tried Manus’ gloves, which are ready to slip on and calibrate. We haven’t tried Polygon itself, but that ease of use could be key. Crucially, the system comes with what Manus says is an easy calibration system that users themselves can operate. Polygon also comes with multiplayer support.

We took a look at the Manus VR gloves in a recent episode of our VR Culture Show. You can see it in action below.

Polygon will be arriving with enterprise customers this June. A price hasn’t been announced but, considering the Manus gloves themselves start at €2990, we wouldn’t hold our breath for a more consumer-friendly option.

You can find out more about Manus Polygon here.

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