Open source the XRCLOUD (Mozilla Hub) full-body avatar editor by BELIVVR

Luke Metaverse worker (Belivvr CEO/CTO)
BELIVVR(EN)
Published in
4 min readOct 18, 2023

One of the most notable differences between the original Mozilla Hub and XRCLOUD, the metaverse SaaS service developed by BELIVVR based on it, is the full-body avatar. Since 2022, Billiver has been applying an editor that allows users to create new avatars by combining avatars into parts, and a full-body avatar that was created using this editor, to CNUMetaversity at Chonnam National University.

Comparison of Mozilla Hub’s Avatar Editor and CNU Metaversity’s Avatar Editor

After seeing our service, there were quite a few requests for help in developing full-body avatars in the hub’s discord community. In addition, since WebMetaverse’s XRCLOUD, which is serviced by Billiver, does not provide avatar services that correspond to user information to protect the business of third parties, we decided that it is necessary to disclose the technology for avatars in order to spread the service of XRCLOUD. Therefore, we are releasing the editor for full-body avatars developed by Billiver as open source.

It is purely self-developed and set to the MIT license, which allows the most free use, and the 3D resource file is designed for the development of CNU Metaversity and is officially licensed by Chonnam National University and can be used freely under the CCL.

XRCLOUD Full Body Avatar Editor Open Source Run ScreenShot

XRCLOUD Full Body Avatar Editor Open Source Launch Screen
Here’s how to install and use it.

1. It is developed with react, so you can install and run npm.
2. You can create an avatar by combining parts.
3. You can take a snapshot of the avatar.
4. You can download the created avatar as a glb file, which is the hub’s avatar format and 3D standard file.
* This is the standard 3D file used to implement the Metaverse and can be viewed in Windows’ default 3D viewer.

XRCLOUD’s predecessor avatar in Windows 3D viewer

How to use in XRCLOUD

The glb file can be utilized in the metaverse space of XRCLOUD by sending it as a parameter value of avatarUrl when entering a room in XRCLOUD. Below is an example of using the URL. Please note that XRCLOUD is constantly being updated and the usage may change in the future.

https://room.xrcloud.app:4000/NdohyYk/school?
avatarUrl=https://kr.object.ncloudstorage.com/xrcloud/sample/xrcloud_fullbody_avatar_sample.glb

How to use in Mozilla Hub

Currently, it is only available for hubs in biliver on XRCLOUD, and we are sending an official pull request to Mozilla Hubs. It is expected to be available at a later date.

Features of XRCLOUD Full Body Avatar Editor

1. developed with react in typescript.

Since it is not pure javascript, static page service is not possible, but it is the most commonly used technology by front-end engineers recently.

2. Snapshot can be taken.

Since we aimed to develop an avatar editor for site development using XRCLOUD, most sites save thumbnails in the database after combining avatars. You can use it at this time.

3. It does not yet support Immersive mode, which is an advantage of WebXR.

Hubs, the metaverse player applied to XRCLOUD, needs to be modified, and various considerations such as different height sizes and animations for each user are currently under consideration. We will improve it as soon as possible.

XRCLOUD open source development work in progress

Another open source project we’re currently working on is a multilingualization of our metaverse editor, Spoke. After we announced our intention to proceed, several international developers on Discord expressed their interest in adding other languages. I guess these are the features they’ve been waiting for. We have many more features to develop and share, including an enhanced third-person view.

Although Billiver is still a small team in Korea, XRCLOUD aims to develop an open web metaverse, so we would like to contribute more to open source in the future. Developers around the world, we look forward to your interest.

If you want to create a web metaverse, you can do it cheaply and easily with the XRCLOUD service from WebXR specialist Billiver, and get ongoing upgrades from developers around the world.

--

--