As big tech is racing toward the development and adoption of extended reality, the debut of the metaverse is nigh. On June 21, 2022, brands gathered together for the founding of the Metaverse Standards Forum. NVIDIA joined Meta, Epic Games, Khronos Group, Avataar, Microsoft, Unity, XR Association, and many other founding members to lead the development of interoperability standards to drive the growth of the metaverse.
Industry-leading computer graphics card maker NVIDIA brings forth expertise in 3D simulation and artificial intelligence to attract developers to explore the continuity and immersive experience the open metaverse introduces.
What is the Metaverse Standards Forum?
The metaverse is the future of the Internet and digital interconnectedness. It features an environment simulating the continuity of experiences in the physical world. The metaverse comprises several layers, among which is a 3D overlay where experiences in the physical and virtual spaces meet seamlessly.
The concept of the metaverse has yet to be fully established, but interest in virtual and augmented realities fast-tracks the growth of various metaverse projects existing today. The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and Decentraland are some excellent examples of projects leveraging digital twins and virtual real estate.
In light of the growing anticipation for the metaverse, Metaverse Standards Forum was established “to foster the development of open standards for the metaverse.” “Building a metaverse for everyone will require an industry-wide focus on common standards,” said Vishal Shah, Vice President of Metaverse at Meta, in a press release. “The Metaverse Standards Forum can drive the collaboration that’s needed to make this possible.”
Interoperability is the driving force for the growth and adoption of the open metaverse. Hence, the Metaverse Standards Forum aims to analyze the interoperability necessary for running the metaverse. More than 30 companies took up their respective posts as founding members of the Forum.
The Metaverse Standards Forum also advocates for strengthening coordination among companies and Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) – such as The Khronos Group, the Open AR Cloud, and the Spatial Web Foundation – to institute and refine standards.
“Open standards developed in collaboration with the leading SDOs will provide a framework for building an open metaverse that has the potential to reshape how we communicate, transform our creative economy, and power new industries built on advanced 3D visualization,” said Jules Urbach, CEO and founder of OTOY Inc., one of the Metaverse Standards Forum founding members.
Whereas the internet we know of today is interoperable through the power of HTML, the metaverse also requires a similar interface for users to navigate between virtual worlds freely.
The Forum will facilitate various projects such as open-source tooling and hackathons. Membership is free, and anyone can participate in the shared goal of accomplishing interoperability.
Interoperability as the Lifeblood of an Immersive Internet
The metaverse is a complex interface where users can interact and indulge in immersive experiences in a rich, 3D environment. This environment is composed of various projects so interlinked to allow users to visit without worrying about the functionality of their virtual assets or access to certain services. Interoperability equips the metaverse with support for the different features and activities across projects.
This continuity is essential in generating a fluid user experience from one metaverse project to another. With open interoperability standards and guidelines to follow, companies can launch fully interoperable projects, allowing them to integrate their programming interfaces with other projects. Services are also rendered accessible across projects, so little to no adjustment should be necessary for users to settle in a new project they’re visiting.
What is NVIDIA’s Role Within the Metaverse?
The metaverse is a complex system running off multiple layers of technologies. As a 3D environment, you can expect some advanced software and hardware behind its development. NVIDIA makes graphic cards to grant computers processing power, among others. The company’s influence expanded from artificial intelligence and cloud computing to game development.
Earlier this year, NVIDIA reinforced its venture into the metaverse with the launching of NVIDIA Omniverse, a collaborative development platform for 3D design and simulation. It features support for advanced polygon rendering, digital twin technology, and an ever-growing library of features to deliver real-time changes to the 3D environment.
“NVIDIA understands the metaverse as an evolution of the Internet — from today’s 2D view of the web to an immersive 3D spatial overlay,” said Vice President, Omniverse & Simulation Technology at NVIDIA, Rev Lebaredian. “For the metaverse to be successful and ubiquitous, it must be built on open standards, just like today’s 2D web — and our joining the Metaverse Standards Forum will help the community usher in a new era of collaborative and open 3D standards that will form the foundation of the metaverse.”
The Future is Now
Game developers, architects, and engineers are mere clicks away from building the next cutting-edge metaverse project with artificial intelligence and advanced hardware. Setting interoperability standards with consideration to available technology is crucial to the mass adoption of the metaverse.
