【Music Archives】

One of the most fun parts of using the Oculus Rift is Music Archivesalmost hidden in plain sight, and it's called Oculus Avatars.

The company rolled out fully customizable Avatars last week, but amid all the excitement around the Touch controllers and apps like Medium and Quill, some may have missed this other amazing new feature.

SEE ALSO: 2016 was supposed to be the year of VR. Instead, augmented reality ruled

Avatars is easily accessible through your Oculus Home menu and once you decide to edit your avatar you're transported to a dressing room in an apartment that has a stunning view of a futuristic city (one of my favorite parts of Oculus are the amazingly designed menu rooms).

You can't move around the room, instead you're situated in front of a mirror that lets you see your virtual self, Oculus headset included. The first thing you'll notice is that the head movements of the face in the mirror correspond perfectly with your movements in the real world, enhancing the sense that you're truly looking at your digital self. And although you can use Avatars with the Oculus remote or Xbox controller, the best way to use it is with Touch controllers, which allow you to wave your virtual reality "hands" as you study your image in the mirror.

On each side of the mirror there are menus that allow you to change your head into a wide variety of shapes (slim, chubby, muscular) and select your age, gender and facial features. After you've picked your head, you can add hair (face and head), clothing (formal, casual, sci-fi, retro, fashion, winter and fantasy) and eyewear (vintage, sunglasses, sci-fi, cute, goggles, retro, steampunk and fashion). After that's all done, you can also add a single color to your avatar, including some that offer a cool translucent effect similar to a marble.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

If you're not the creative type and want to let Oculus pick a look for you, there's a handy Random feature (represented by a single die) that always delivers a fun new combination look.

Aside from the fun of creating a new look, the mirror itself is also worth mentioning. It perfectly duplicates the effect from The Matrixduring which Neo takes the red pill and touches a nearby mirror only to see it flow around his finger like liquid mercury. It's not essential to the experience, but little touches like that are what make Oculus stand out as working hard to transport you into another world when you're in VR.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Currently, the Avatars don't have a ton of uses beyond giving you a cool vision of yourself in certain environments. However, Oculus says that Sports Bar VR, Toybox and Kingspray(and some other titles) have Avatars integration as of last week.

But the true power of Avatars will be apparent when Oculus Rooms launches in early 2017. In Rooms, your customized avatar will be able to meet other friends and their avatars to do things like watch movies and play cards, all while each person is jacked in from the comfort of their home.

But there's no need to wait, particularly if you already have the Touch controllers. Go try Oculus Avatars -- now.

---

Featured Video For You

---

We built a VR-ready computer for less than $800 (and you can too)

---

Topics Oculus Virtual Reality

• Deals
• Life
• Entertainment
• Science
• Digital Culture
• Social Good
• Tech
• Games

• NYT Connections hints and answers for May 10: Tips to solve 'Connections' #699.
• How to Stop Crying by Heather Christle
• Le Guin’s Subversive Imagination by Michael Chabon
• The Wilderness of the Unfinished Manuscript by Sarah M. Broom
• Best robot vacuum deal: Save $140 on roborock Q7 Max Robot Vacuum
• Spotify Wrapped 2023 celebrates 'the real stuff' after a year of new AI features
• The best Netflix movies of 2023
• The Only Untranslatable American Writer by Brian Evenson
• Dyson V8 Plus cordless vacuum: $120 off at Amazon
• The Opera Backstage by Cody Delistraty

• Big tech surveillance could damage democracy
• A giant Jeremy Clarkson head keeps popping up to promote 'The Grand Tour'
• Samsung launches its Galaxy S10 in Cardinal Red color
• Guy Fieri asks Lil Nas X to collab on an 'Old Town Road' remix
• Apple announces macOS 10.15 Catalina
• The 'Schitt's Creek' Twitter account has an adorably romantic Easter egg
• 'The Handmaid's Tale' Season 3 review: June's choice pays off slowly
• Shaq gets really emotional about Beyoncé, too
• Survey says Democrats and Republicans disagree about 'Handmaid's Tale'
• A Hampton Inn in Utah started a Twitter war with J. Cole

• Robin Triumphant
• Séance Sights by The Paris Review
• The False Innocence of Black Pete by Philip Huff
• Ghosts by Jill Talbot
• NYT Strands hints, answers for May 5
• Monzo's version of Spotify Wrapped shows us who we really are
• In Russia, the Ultimate Scary Story is about Losing Your Coat by Jennifer Wilson
• Best carpet cleaner deal: Grab a Bissell for just $89 (save 28%)
• What cracked the Milky Way's giant cosmic bone? Scientists think they know.
• Why is everyone's Spotify Wrapped 'sound town' Burlington, Vermont?

• 5 Ways to Access a Locked Windows Account
• The Whole Fucking Paradigm by Andre Perry
• The 10 weirdest movie and TV trends of 2023
• Best Lego deal: Get up to 30% off Harry Potter Lego sets at Amazon
• The 10 Most Anticipated PC Games of 2016
• 10 exercises you can do while playing video games
• Activision Blizzard to pay more than $54 million in gender discrimination settlement
• Spooky Staff Picks by The Paris Review
• Ryzen 5 1600X vs. 1600: Which should you buy?
• Monzo's version of Spotify Wrapped shows us who we really are