FAQ
What is the capacity of a Hubs room?β
We recommend a maximum of 25 in-room participants. This capacity is the default because low power devices, such as mobile phones and standalone VR headsets, may begin experiencing performance issues in busier rooms. You can adjust the room capacity in the room settings menu.
Once a room is full, all additional users (participant #26 and beyond) can still participate by watching from the lobby. Users in the lobby can see and hear what's happening in the room and interact via text chat; however, they are not represented as avatars in the room and their mic is not active. There is no hard limit on lobby capacity, however, performance may decrease once there are over one hundred people in the lobby.
If you want to scale Hubs for a larger event we recommend splitting crowds into multiple rooms with smaller groups, or live streaming the event, depending on the use case.
For more information on setting up Hubs for large events, we recommend exploring Hubs Cloud as an option for your organization's event needs.
How long does a Hubs room last?β
Hubs rooms stay open forever unless you choose the "close room" option from the dropdown menu. Unless a room has been "closed", you will always be able to use the URL to revisit your room. If you plan to revisit a room, you might like to add it to your favorites for easy access.
Can I play video content in Hubs?β
Hubs has the ability to play videos in the room, which allows you to watch with friends or live stream content from an existing stream. For videos, Hubs supports standard video formats. Live stream content is supported in the HLS format. You can embed videos from popular video hosting websites like Vimeo, YouTube, and Twitch, but due to high load these may sometimes be unreliable. For mission-critical content, we recommend hosting videos on the Hubs servers by uploading to your Hubs room or Spoke (there is a 128MB size limit for these videos) or using a hosting provider like Amazon S3.
Where does the chat log go?β
The chat log only exists temporarily. Messages disappear after a set period of time. We are working on developing chat scrollback. Until this is released, you can also keep track of in-world chat by setting up the Hubs Discord Bot.
Can I share a PowerPoint presentation in Hubs?β
Hubs is great for giving presentations. Supported media types are PDF files, images, 3D models, audio, video, webcam input, and screen sharing.
To use a PowerPoint in Hubs, you can convert it to a PDF file and import it directly into Hubs, or you can use screen sharing to stream a view of your presentation into Hubs.
Is it possible to have my video or slides show up in a good place (like on a wall) automatically?β
Precise positioning using the object controls in Hubs can be a bit tricky at the moment. (We are working on it!)
If precise positioning is important, you may prefer to build your media into the scene using Spoke, Hubs' web-based scene editing tool. Spoke has controls that let you fine tune object placement.
In the meantime, you may find it easier to resize and place objects when using Hubs in VR. If you are setting up a room on desktop, we recommend directly facing the surface you wish to place your media on when importing the files. To move the media into position, you may find you have more control if you click on the object with your mouse to grab it, and then move it into place using the WASD keys.
What devices does Hubs run on?β
Because it runs in the browser, Hubs is very cross-platform compatible. It works on mobile, desktop, and VR devices, and runs on most modern browsers. For more information check out the supported devices & browsers section.
Why are lines on my drawings disappearing?β
There is a maximum number of lines that can be included in drawings using the pen tool. Once the limit is reached, the first lines will start to disappear. To prevent this, periodically open the object menu on your drawing, and press the "create" button (magic wand). This will turn your drawing into an object, and reset your line count to 0.
Can I create custom environments?β
Environments are completely customizable using Spoke, Hubs' web-based scene editing tool. Learn more here.
How do I record my event in Hubs?β
We recommend using screen recording software like OBS to capture events in Hubs. To hide the user interface when recording, you can press the backtick key ( ` ), or turn on camera mode.
Can I add custom interactive objects to my room?β
Spoke allows you to create model spawners in your room, enabling users to generate copies of 3D models in the room.
It is not possible at the moment to add scripting or further interactivity to objects in Spoke or Hubs.
Can I import 3D models from [other software]?β
Hubs supports importing glTF binary (.glb) models. If the tool you use doesn't create .glb files, we recommend using a tool like Blender to convert your model.
Is it possible to create my own avatar?β
For sure! We love seeing custom avatars. You can either re-skin the default avatars or upload your own 3D model (.glb). For more information check out the Creating Custom Avatars section.
Is it possible to create a link to another room from within a room?β
Yes, just copy and paste a link for one Hubs room into another (or paste the URL into the Hubs chat box and press the little magic wand icon). Due to browser limitations, when you open the new Hubs room you have to go through the "enter room" process again.
Can I prevent other people in the room from drawing, controlling slides/videos, etc?β
If you are the room moderator you can turn these on/off by going to room settings in the dropdown menu.
Is there a laser pointer tool in VR?β
The pen in Hubs doubles as a laser pointer tool. When the pen is emitting a laser, you and others will see a line going from your avatar in the direction you are pointing.
How do I fly?β
You can type /fly in the text chat box, or press G on desktop, or press down on the joystick in Quest.
How do I access the text chat box & preferences on Quest?β
You need to leave VR mode to access the text chat box & preferences on Quest. Press the home button on your controller and "quit" VR.
Why do things disappear when I leave the room?β
Check out the troubleshooting section.
When I load a room, I get an error saying unable to connect to room. Help!β
Check out the troubleshooting section.
Why is there echo in the room?β
Check out the troubleshooting section.
How much does Hubs cost for an event?β
Creating private rooms on hubs.mozilla.com is free!
If you are interested in hosting an event, or would like to create a customized Hubs environment on your own infrastructure/domain, check out Hubs Cloud or fill out the Hubs Events form so that we can provided tailored information for your event needs.
Can I prevent unregistered attendees from attending my event?β
Hubs rooms can only be accessed by individuals with the URL. Authentication can be done either the Hubs Discord Bot, or using an approved list of users in Hubs Cloud.
Can I run custom code in a Hubs room?β
You can't run custom code in the main Hubs website (hubs.mozilla.com) but you can add your own if you self-host using Hubs Cloud (see previous answers). To add custom code you will need to create your own custom fork of the Hubs Cloud client.
For more information, see our documentation on custom clients.
Is it possible for me to create a custom version of Hubs which has different features or styling?β
See previous answer.
Can I pay Mozilla to do X, Y, Z?β
It's not possible to pay Mozilla for custom work, however, our code is open source and we welcome external contributors in GitHub. You can post in the #work-for-hire channel of our Discord chat server if you are interested in paying someone to build something for you.
Can I run my virtual event in Hubs?β
Yes, check out the information here for more information on how to get started:
If you have questions about whether Hubs will be a good fit for your event, drop by our office-hours or meetup to speak to a member of our team. See our community Discord chat server for the schedule.
Have you considered adding feature X?β
We keep track of bugs and feature requests in GitHub. If there is a feature you would like, see if someone has already mentioned it in our list of bugs/feature requests. If you find someone else has already asked for the feature, let us know in a comment that you would like it too. If it's not already mentioned, feel free to submit a "feature request." Note, please include as much detail as possible to feature requests to let us know how you see this feature benefiting your use case.
Need help with something else?β
If you can't find what you need in the rest of the documentation, see the help page for ways to get in touch.