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Enable and Test Hand Tracking Using the Meta XR Simulator

Updated: Jul 2, 2024

Overview

The Meta XR Simulator allows you to test hand tracking interactions without a physical headset. You can enable hand input and simulate four gesture poses (aim, poke, pinch, and grab) using mouse and keyboard controls on your development machine.

Enable Hands

To enable hand tracking:
  1. In the Meta XR Simulator window, go to Inputs.
  2. Expand Global Input Settings.
  3. Select Hand as the input device for Left and/or Right from the dropdown menu.

Hand Poses

XR Simulator currently supports four different hand poses: aim (default), poke, pinch, and grab.

Mouse Input

Just like when controllers are active, the left mouse button can be used to trigger a “select” gesture while hands are enabled. All enabled hands (those set to Hand in Global Input Settings) switch to pinch when the button is pressed and aim when it’s released.

Keyboard Input

The 1 through 4 number keys on the keyboard switch all enabled hands (those set to Hand in Global Input Settings) between default, poke, pinch, and grab poses.
You can use:
  • 1 for aim (default)
  • 2 for poke
  • 3 for pinch
  • 4 for grab
These can be changed in the Input Bindings panel located in the Hand Actions section.
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