The first “Made for Meta” product is a big one for MR artists, and it comes from Logitech. Announced ahead of its launch at Meta Connect 2024, the MX Ink is a Mixed Reality (MR) stylus that allows you to create 3D art with ease on Meta Quest 3 or Quest 2.
Launching at $129/£125, the pen itself may look a little chunky, but that’s to hold a whole lot of impressive tech that we’ll get into. And that “Made for Meta” label is an important one, as that brings a collaboration between the two companies’ design and engineering teams to integrate it directly into Meta’s settings controls.
Logitech MX Ink specs
| Price | $129.99 / £124.99 |
| Dimensions | 6.5 x 0.7 inches |
| Weight | 1.02 ounces |
| Tracking | 6DoF spatial tracking |
| Controls | 2x control buttons, 1x Meta button, 1x Pressure sensitive button |
| Tip | Pressure sensitive nib |
| Battery Life | 7 hours |
| Charging | USB-C or Pogo Pins via MX Inkwell |
How it works
Logitech makes the lofty claim that the MX Ink “seamlessly transitions from 2D to 3D spaces” with low latency that is “on par with Meta Quest controllers.” To blend both these dimensions, the company has come up with something quite nifty — alongside that pressure sensitive pen tip (with replaceable tips), there’s a pressure sensitive button on the barrel for when drawing in thin air.
That means you’ve got good, accurate control over the inkflow, while the haptic feedback engine in the pen gives you that nice tactility of the pen drawing in the space. In terms of setting it up, this is where the close ties between Logitech and Meta come in, as first-time pairing will give you a custom tutorial and settings backed into the Quest’s system software for remapping buttons and customizing pressure curves.
Software support is also off to an impressive start and developer kits are available to apply for. Outside of the usual suspects just below, you can use MX Ink in Adobe Substance Modeler and Elucis, alongside PC VR apps used with the Quest Link cable or wirelessly over Air Link:
- Arkio
- Engage
- Gesture VR
- Gravity Sketch
- PaintingVR
- ShapesXR
And of course, this is Logitech we’re talking about here. So there are additional accessories to snap up. These come in the form of the MX Dock — a nice charging inkwell for keeping it topped up — and a drawing surface in the form of the MX Mat.
Outlook
Set for a proper launch at Meta Connect 2024, I anticipate this will be the first of a few Made for Meta products we’ll see at the show. Who knows — we may even see the hotly anticipated budget-tier Meta Quest 3S make its debut too.
One thing is clear, and that’s Meta is really steering into making its MR headsets more than just a thing you watch/play cool things on. The company is jumping into this battle with Apple Vision Pro to be at the forefront of Spatial Computing productivity.
Time will tell whether Cupertino retaliates with its own creative accessories for AVP!
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