Meta introduced avatars in 2020 as a way to contest with Snap’s Bitmoji, a popular personalized cartoon avatar app. Since then, Meta has been updating and improving its avatars with new expressions, faces, skin tones, and accessibility features.
Recently, Meta announced on April 27, 2023, that it has added furthermore several new body shapes for avatars, along with enriched textures for hair and clothing as well as an addition of sparkle to eyes. The company has furthermore introduced PUMA looks to its avatars. Furthermore, Meta has proclaimed that its platforms have generated over one billion avatars to date.
New Body Shapes
Meta is currently making subtle improvements to avatars to enhance their appearance and realism. Their purpose is to enable the avatars to better depict their users’ identities and personalities. These subtle transformations aim to make the avatars more visually alluring and engrossing, even in non-virtual reality settings. As a consequence, these enhancements will be conspicuous when the avatars are utilized outside of VR surroundings.
As we know, everyone’s body is different, and Meta believes that the current options available when creating an avatar are not inclusive enough. To address this, Meta has added more choices, including two curvier body shapes, to equip a wider range of options for people to choose from.
Meta furthermore concedes the significance of self-expression and representation, and how these factors contribute to making an avatar feel like a true representation of the individual. The company intends to persist in adding more options over time to assure that everyone can create an avatar they adore.
Meta enriches avatar hair and eye appearance
Meta has furthermore made improvements to how avatars’ hair is displayed in stickers, profile pictures, and cover photos. They have made consequential changes to the representation of avatars’ hair, clothing, and eyes, aiming to enhance the level of detail and realism. These updates involve technical changes that are designed to make avatars more visually appealing, helping them to stand out and catch the eye more effectively. As a result, whether someone is wearing formal attire or casual clothing, their avatar should appear more refined and true to life.
Further, Meta has updated the lighting model utilized for avatars’ eyes, which should make them look more reflective and bring out their sparkle, adding to the overall impression of the avatar and helping it to better represent the person it is meant to portray.
Meta Expands Avatars Store with PUMA Partnership
Meta has likewise partnered with PUMA to add seven of its lifestyle looks to the Avatars Store. This is a growth of the Avatars Store, which was introduced the preceding year as a way to authorize people to personalize their avatars across Messenger, Facebook, as well as Instagram, and virtual reality (VR).
Meta last year offered users to purchase virtual outfits from popular fashion brands like Balenciaga, Prada, and Thom Browne. As the company recognizes that many users want to personalize their avatars with clothing from well-known brands, and they are responding to that demand by offering these options in their stores. Along with these paid outfits, there are also free options available for users to choose from.
And the addition of PUMA has definitely expanded this selection. Starting on May 1, users can choose from seven different PUMA outfits to dress up their avatars, adding another level of personalization and expression to their online presence.
Further, when you create an avatar and share it on Facebook or other platforms, it becomes visible to the public, meaning anyone can see it. Additionally, people can interact with your avatar, though you have all the capability to control who can do so. Usually, your friends can interact with your avatar by default, but you can adjust the settings to limit it to only your friends or just yourself. You can also modify or remove your avatar whenever you want.
