Snap Celebrates The Fifth Annual Lens Fest | ARPost - ARPost

Snap Lens Fest took spot connected December 6 and 7. The yearly lawsuit is simply a solemnisation of the Snap Lens creator community, arsenic good arsenic an accidental for the institution to denote initiatives and bundle offerings. The lawsuit is besides location to the Lens Fest Awards.

If you’re a Snapchat user, Lens Fest gives you an penetration into what’s happening down the lens and what’s coming next. If you aren’t a Snapchat user, you should inactive wage attraction arsenic Snap’s plan tools are utilized by different organizations to make their AR tools and games arsenic well.

Welcome Back!

Four Snap leads utilized the keynote to acceptable the signifier for the remainder of Lens Fest (as good arsenic marque the archetypal large announcements). First, Snap Chief Technology Officer, Bobby Murphy, presented Lens Studio – Snap’s developer suite – arsenic being an integrated collaboration betwixt the institution and the users of the platform.

“We’re excited to beryllium present to observe you, the planetary Lens developer community,” said Murphy. “We’re excited to proceed processing Lens Studio on with you … There is truthful overmuch accidental up of us.”

To Murphy, this two-way improvement of Lens Studio is simply a large portion of the improvement of AR arsenic a whole. This draws connected Snap’s longstanding presumption that AR is the aboriginal of immersive tech. It would travel to beryllium an ongoing taxable for aboriginal presentations arsenic well.

“The champion and astir engaging AR filters adhd to the satellite alternatively than regenerate it,” said Murphy. “Over time, we spot the imaginable for wearable technology, similar our Spectacles, to marque it adjacent much accessible.”

Updates and Opportunities

Following Murphy, Software Engineering Senior Manager, Trevor Stephenson, discussed immoderate of the large updates to Lens Studio successful the past year, including Ray Tracing. The feature, which was announced astatine Snap’s Partner Summit successful April, is already successful the hands of prime partners but is coming to the level much publically adjacent year.

Next, Joe Darko, Global Head of AR Developer Relations, spoke astir learning and improvement opportunities culminating successful a caller “Lensathon.” The distant accidental opened connected the archetypal time of Lens Fest and continues done the extremity of January. Following the event, a full of $200,000 volition beryllium awarded, including $40,000 to the apical project.

The Future of Creator Monetization?

Finally, Director of AR Platform Partnerships and Ecosystems, Sophia Dominguez, took the virtual stage. She teased aboriginal experiments with creators to make AR items and assets disposable to Snap users successful speech for tokens – but didn’t suggest a merchandise date. The coming feature, which was promoted arsenic a creator monetization option, tied backmost into Murphy’s opening themes.

“We judge that arsenic much developers similar you found businesses, we determination person to our wearable future,” said Dominguez. “We’re committed to pushing the AR manufacture guardant alongside you.”

More connected the Economic Future of AR

For the Lens Fest adjacent session, a non-Snapchatter took the signifier – Mike Boland of ARtillery Intelligence. He discussed the trajectory of AR arsenic a market, specifically for advertising.

Boland likened AR to the aboriginal internet, saying that it volition conscionable and adjacent transcend each of our expectations provided that we retrieve that that benignant of improvement volition instrumentality time. Boland besides said that, historically, emerging technologies had done good successful marketplace economical slowdowns arsenic they chopped their bequest advertisement spending portion continuing to find the adjacent large thing.

According to Boland, we’re already seeing signs of AR maturing arsenic a market, specified arsenic the displacement from the selfie cam to the world-facing cam. While Boland said that AR glasses are “years away,” helium besides pointed retired that AR glasses lone person world-facing cameras. He besides pointed to the displacement to much productive and informative AR lenses arsenic a further motion of maturity.

“In summation to amusive and whimsical lenses, we spot an summation successful applicable lenses,” said Boland. “We’ll inactive spot tons of amusive and games successful AR conscionable similar we bash connected the web today.”

“What’s New successful Lens Studio”

The adjacent Lens Fest league took a person look astatine the much near-term future. Lens Studio Product Marketing Manager Leigh Brown and Product Manager Charmain Lee presented updates to Snap Lens Cloud and collision mesh software.

Lens Cloud was announced astatine the Partner Summit and allows lens creators to store assets remotely truthful that moving a lens is little of a method task for the device. An impending update to Lens Cloud volition let users to edit the unrecorded mentation of their lens by changing which assets are successful the Lens Cloud mentation of the project.

Another coming update to Lens Studio tin automatically marque a collision mesh of some virtual objects and the carnal world. There volition besides beryllium caller filters for uncovering a mesh that volition supply conscionable the close collision.

The Lens Fest Awards

This is the Fifth yearly Lens Fest, but lone the 2nd yearly Lens Fest Awards. The lawsuit recognized 50 finalists crossed 5 categories with 1 victor successful each. Hosting the Awards was Snap’s European AR Developer Relations Lead, Oscar Falmer. Once again, judges came from crossed Snap, though the categories were antithetic this year.

“We’re thrilled to beryllium present contiguous to observe the year’s astir originative lenses and the developers who physique them,” said Falmer. “All large AR begins with the creativity of Lens developers and creators.”

Play

The archetypal class recognized lenses “that usage gaming oregon amusement to heighten however we acquisition the world” and the grant went to Table Trenches: Operation Living Room by DB Creations. The multi-player crippled uses scans of a player’s situation to make a reactive representation for a tower-defense-style strategy game.

“Thanks truthful overmuch to everyone who helped america marque this crippled a reality,” said DB Creations co-founder Dustin Kochensparger. “I can’t hold to amusement you what we’re moving connected next.”

Fashion

The Fashion class recognized lenses that “revolutionize the satellite of idiosyncratic style.” The grant went to Vishal Yadav’s Flux Fashion, a lens that allows users to customize a virtual garment utilizing colors sourced from their carnal environments.

Yadav, besides a nominee successful the Wellness category, expressed gratitude astatine designation of his lens saying, “It means a batch to me.”

Education

The Education class “celebrates lenses that rise consciousness for important causes oregon foster cognition done AR.” The grant went to Inna Horobchuk for Sky Map. Sky Map is an interactive annotated representation of stars and constellations – thing that took a full dedicated app erstwhile this XR writer started writing.

“I’m ace excited that radical from each astir the globe tin prosecute with my lens and larn astir stars and constellations successful AR,” said Horobchuk, who was besides a nominee for the Wellness category.

Wellness

The Wellness class celebrated “lenses that lend to carnal and intelligence well-being” and was awarded to Soft Drink Info by Wasim Ghole.

The lens displays nutrition accusation for a fig of fashionable sodas and vigor drinks. Ghole thanked Snap for recognizing the lens, and for providing the tools to make and administer it.

Moonshot

The last Lens Fest Award class “highlights creators who person seen the limitless imaginable of AR and person challenged themselves to bash thing that has ne'er been done before.” The grant went to Dennis Rossiev’s Imaginary Friends, which allows users to crook scans of objects successful their situation into cartoon companions.

“With instrumentality learning, I was capable to physique a lens that I’ve been dreaming astir for truthful long,” said Rossiev. In summation to having been a nominee successful 2 different categories this year, Rossiev besides won successful an “originality” class astatine last year’s Lens Fest Awards.

The Camera That Keeps connected Giving

For the outfit that inactive calls itself a “camera company,” Snap is leaning much into AR than ever before. Dedicated specifically to Lenses, Lens Fest is simply a needfully AR-focused event. If the institution stays consistent, the adjacent Partner Summit should beryllium successful a fewer months to cardinal america into different elements of the company’s strategy.