Original author: Kyle

Original source: Hive Tech

As a national-level application in China with 1.309 billion monthly active users, every small upgrade of WeChat can easily become a phenomenon. At the beginning of 2023, WeChat will expand its strategy and try to integrate the Metaverse into mini programs.

Not long ago, WeChat officially posted the "XR-FRAME" development guide in the open community, which is a set of XR (extended reality)/3D application solutions customized for small programs. To put it simply, after the solution is launched, it will give small programs extended reality and 3D capabilities from the bottom layer, allowing the human-computer interaction method of future small programs to change from 2D to more three-dimensional 3D.

Currently, XR-FRAME is still in the testing stage. According to the official demo, this component can better present 3D effects and provide AR face-changing, AR gaming and other experiences. According to reports, WeChat took the lead in targeting the e-commerce field for testing XR mini-programs, implementing different types of cases such as AR try-on and AR home decoration.

From a strategic perspective, by integrating the Metaverse into WeChat mini-programs, Tencent is prepared for danger in times of peace. Economist Zhu Jiaming predicts that the basic form of people's social interaction in the future will be carried out in the metaverse. If this really happens, traditional social models such as WeChat will be subverted. What may defeat WeChat is not the “Douyin” social network, but the Metaverse application.

Mini-apps need to be 3D

Do you still remember the popular mini-game "Jump" on WeChat? Players press and hold the screen to make the villain charge up and jump to the box in front to score points. If the villain accidentally falls, the game ends. This game was launched on the WeChat mini program in December 2017, attracting countless players to compete. A few months ago, the elimination game "Sheep" was also popular on the entire Internet using a WeChat applet as a carrier.

Since the WeChat mini program was launched in January 2017, a number of phenomenal applications have been born. Relying on the huge WeChat user base, mini programs provide developers with a new creative soil. Over the past six years, the platform capabilities and underlying framework of mini programs have also been continuously upgraded. At the beginning of 2023, the small program revealed a big move - it is testing the XR framework internally.

XR stands for Extended Reality, which is a collective name for VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), and MR (Mixed Reality). Not long ago, WeChat officially posted the "XR-FRAME" development guide in the WeChat open community. According to the description, this is a set of XR/3D application solutions officially provided by small programs. It is implemented based on a hybrid solution, with performance close to native and good effects. , easy to use, strongly scalable, progressive, and follows small program development standards.

This underlying framework is still in the testing stage, and the mini program official has posted a detailed tutorial in the open community to guide developers on how to build an XR mini program from scratch.

Compared with the Canvas component currently used in applet, xr-frame brings more capabilities. According to reports, it provides XML (Extensible Markup Language) to describe 3D scenes, and integrates AR, physics, animation, particles, post-processing and other systems, making it easy to get started. At the same time, it has built-in complete PBR (physically based rendering) effects, ambient lighting, and shadows, which can quickly generate environmental data from panoramas. In addition, there are advantages such as rendering performance approaching native and strong scalability.​

Example of XR applet development effect

To simply understand, the launch of xr-frame will give small programs extended reality and 3D capabilities from the bottom layer, and will transform the human-computer interaction method of future small programs from 2D to more three-dimensional 3D.

According to the officially released Demo, with xr-frame support, virtual 3D people, 3D objects, and 3D scenes can be better presented in mini programs. In addition, AR face-changing, scanning planes to obtain AR games, and scanning specific pictures to obtain Functions such as AR interaction are also possible. This means that more interactive applications will appear in WeChat applets in the future.

According to the testing rhythm, the XR mini program function is likely to be fully launched after the Lunar New Year. The industry generally regards it as the core function of the next major version upgrade of WeChat.

Let the metaverse happen on WeChat?

WeChat is testing the XR applet internally, just when the wave of the metaverse is surging. This action sends a signal that WeChat mini programs will assume Tencent’s mission of laying out the Metaverse to a certain extent.

Although technology giants such as Meta and Baidu have developed metaverse panoramic applications, their experience and popularity are very limited. Currently, application scenarios related to the Metaverse are mainly reflected in human-computer interaction games, immersive e-commerce shopping, virtual human live broadcasts, virtual meetings, etc. Without a self-built Metaverse platform, Tencent tested the Metaverse and chose a light approach, using the WeChat traffic portal to first access the virtual reality scene with a small program.

According to reports, WeChat is currently taking the lead in targeting e-commerce for the testing of XR mini programs, and has cooperated with a number of brand mini programs in different categories to implement different types of cases such as AR try-on and AR home decoration.

At this stage, XR technology is most commonly used in the e-commerce field. In the traditional e-commerce shopping experience, consumers can only rely on the pictures/videos displayed by merchants to make shopping decisions. After the final purchase, there is often a large gap between the buyer's show and the seller's show. After the introduction of AR technology, the product display model of traditional e-commerce platforms has gradually been subverted. Especially in specific scenarios such as trying on clothing, wearing jewelry, and trying out makeup, AR can help users make more correct decisions.

Although WeChat has not been the main battlefield for e-commerce, consumer brands such as NIKE, Adidas, and Chanel have launched related WeChat mini programs. When the XR function is launched, these brands can better display their products, which may drive WeChat e-commerce. ecological growth.

In addition, it is conceivable that in the future, more 3D modeling and mini-games with a stronger sense of real-life interaction will be born in WeChat mini-programs. Perhaps, the next popular mini-game will be in a completely different 3D form.

A wide range of WeChat applets

In fact, as an important part of the WeChat ecosystem, mini programs have also entered a development bottleneck. In order to achieve the effect of no need to download and run away after use, WeChat mini programs make huge sacrifices in performance. The performance of the same application on WeChat mini programs is often not as good as that of APP. This also led to the fact that mini programs did not become disruptive applications as people expected. On the contrary, some highly functional applications seemed useless if used through mini programs.

It remains to be seen whether the launch of XR functions will open up room for growth for mini programs. Some developers expressed concern that whether xr-frame can meet expectations requires cautious optimism. After all, the original intention of mini programs is to be fast. The "fast" here refers to loading and rendering. Therefore, WeChat mini programs have always been a hybrid rendering method that mainly uses webview rendering and native rendering as a supplement. This also makes the development of mini programs difficult. Mainly based on front-end technology. However, the 3D development of xr-frame requires a completely different technology stack, and the rendering overhead has doubled, which requires developers to have a better optimization level. In addition, when high-quality 3D modeling often takes up a lot of memory, there is a question mark as to whether the XR experience provided by the mini program will be discounted.

Of course, WeChat, as a "national-level application" with 1.309 billion monthly active users, has significant traffic advantages. As long as excellent small programs appear, there will be no shortage of users. This will also attract a large number of brands and developers to try it, so the launch of xr-frame will drive the prosperity of the small program development ecosystem.

From a strategic perspective, integrating the Metaverse into mini-programs is also Tencent’s further exploration in the social field. Overseas social giant Meta has already started.

Zhu Jiaming, an economist and chairman of the Academic and Technical Committee of the Hengqin Digital Finance Research Institute, once believed that the reason why Facebook was renamed Meta was because Facebook was originally a metaverse, but in the previous era, the development of digital technology still had limitations. , the social experience can only be presented in the form of pictures, texts and videos. He predicted that in the future, the basic form of people's social interaction will take place in the metaverse, breaking the boundaries of time, space and geography, and bringing a more immersive experience.

If all this really happens, traditional social application models such as WeChat and QQ will be subverted. The one that defeats WeChat may not be video social applications like “Douyin” but the Metaverse.

(The above content is excerpted and reprinted with the authorization of partner MarsBit, original text link | Source: Honeycomb Tech)

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