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Additional monetization options are on the way for Snapchat’s augmented reality Lenses.

Today marked the start of Lens Fest 2022, Snap’s annual developer conference centered around its global community of augmented reality (AR) creators. The company kicked things off with a bang earlier this morning with the reveal of a new feature that allows select developers to sell premium upgrades to their AR Lenses.

According to Snap, users can purchase additional content—such as digital goods, effects, and tools—using Snap Tokens, Snapchat’s official in-app currency. The company is currently testing the feature with a closed group of creators and developers as part of an initial pilot program.

“AR is core to the Snapchat experience today, and over time, we see even greater opportunities for hardware to bring it to a new dimension,” said the company in an official update. “Our ambition is that AR can be even more natural through glasses that let you use your hands to interact with AR around you.”

“The advanced hardware and software, distribution channels, and ways we support growth through the Snap AR platform all work together to fuel the creativity and businesses of our global AR community,” added the company.

Participating Lenses will begin rolling out over the next few weeks throughout select locations in Australia and New Zealand, according to Engadget. You’ll find them in the Lens Carousel and Lens Explorer on your Snapchat app, available for free on iOS and Android devices.

Over the past two years, Snap has invested heavily in its catalog of AR Lenses as well as its line of Spectacles AR glasses. According to the company, AR studio Paper Triangles generated roughly $4 million developing Lenses for a number of major brands in 2021.

This past September, the company announced that it was shifting its long-term focus toward community growth, revenue growth, and AR technology after reducing the size of its team by 20%. For more information on Snap’s restructuring visit here.

Image Credit: Snap Inc.

You can also “try on” clothing in AR using the Snapchat app, anytime, anywhere.

In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Snapchat and British Vogue are coming together to launch Vogue x Snapchat: Redefining the Body, an incredible AR exhibition curated by Editor in Chief, British Vogue and European Editorial Director, Vogue, Edward Enninful OBE (Order of the British Empire).

The AR exhibit features high-end fashion designs brought to life using custom Snapchat filters. Textiles transform into innovative digital AR experiences that tell stories about heritage and diversity or echo a global movement.

The groundbreaking event will be hosted in Cannes, France at the Centre d’art La Malmaison. Snap and Vogue will showcase clothing designs from seven of the world’s leading fashion brands and designers; Balenciaga, Dior, Gucci, Kenneth Ize, Richard Quinn, Stella McCartney, and Versace. 

Anyone attending this event will be able to walk through an incredible custom design room and unlock the creative vision of these fashion leaders in inclusive design using powerful AR Snapchat try-on experiences. 

Each designer will work in one of six custom environments that will complement their physical fashion and using custom Snap Lenses, the designers will be able to bring their works to life in a way that is inclusive and accessible for everyone.

Here’s what you can expect from each designer (as provided by Snap):

Balenciaga: 

• The French maison’s exhibition room is swathed in opaque darkness. Dense black curtains line the space, which houses two spotlit looks from Balenciaga’s 50th Couture Collection, and nods to the design of a historic dressing salon.
• The pieces are part of Balenciaga’s first Couture collection since 1968, the year the maison’s founder retired.
• Attendees can scan the room’s Snapcode to instigate different perspectives of the monochromatic environment.
• There will also be a custom Balenciaga AR experience, with try-on Lenses available to wear the shocking-pink opera coat showcased in the exhibition. 

Dior: 

• In the courtyard of the Centre d’Art La Malmaison, a three-metre-high statue of a model wearing the revolutionary Dior New Look of 1947 welcomes guests to Redefining the Body.
• Standing on a five-pointed star – a symbol of divine providence that inspired the superstitious founding couturier to open his house in 1946 – she holds the iconic Lady Dior bag, an emblem of elegance for nearly three decades.
• The Snapchat Snapcode reveals Dior petites mains skillfully hand-sewing details on this statue as she steps off her star-edged plinth, unifying time-honed craftsmanship with digital technology. 

Gucci: 

• In its exhibition room, the Florentine house replicates the white grid and illusionistic funhouse mirror set design of the Exquisite Gucci runway show. 
• On podiums, mannequins display looks from this masculinity-exploring collection, which imagined the suit as a sartorial prompt. 
• Using the Snapchat Lens, Snapchatters can use their phone screen to warp its dimensions, unearthing colorful portals in a palette that reflects the atmosphere of the Exquisite Gucci show
• Snapchatters will be able to wear Gucci’s tailoring, faux-fur coat, aviator-style sunglasses and beret, revealed in moving tessellated grids.

Kenneth Ize: 

• Kenneth Ize – whose 2013-founded brand champions West African craft – has collaborated with Nigerian multimedia artist Jelili Atiku on an exhibition space featuring vivid reproductions of his paintings and public performance pieces. 
• Within this exhibition room, colorful wall hangings and upholstery are created using Aso oke – a handwoven Nigerian fabric pivotal to Ize’s designs. 
• Mannequins display vivid one-off gowns, which reflect Ize’s commitment to craft. 
• Through the Snapchat AR experience, viewers can experience Ize’s West African story, brought to life through sound, and wear his tactile creations, which will ripple and unfurl before their eyes.

Richard Quinn: 

• A geometric grid of florals and polka dots, the exhibition room of British designer and this year’s BFC / Vogue Designer Fashion Fund winner Richard Quinn is swathed in the prints idiosyncratic of his 2016-founded brand.
• Lenses will reveal a magical garden, where blue roses magnify through a mist, growing before your eyes and giving Snapchatters the opportunity to watch as Quinn’s opera coat and wide-brimmed balaclava appear on their bodies in an interactive swirl of sparkle. 

Stella McCartney: 

• The 2001-founded British house’s exhibition room is transformed into a grotto of giant colorful mushrooms, where mannequins display cascading ruffled dresses from the brand’s spring/summer 2010 collection.
• The space is rooted in Stella McCartney’s spring/summer 2022 collection and campaign theme, Fungi Are The Future Of Fashion And Our Planet, with the designer having been inspired by these incredible organisms’ potential for offering more sustainable solutions from medicine to material innovation.
• The Big Mushroom will transform to showcase digital bees pollinating mushroom spores using Scan technology, and the try-on AR feature will unveil a headdress garlanded with mushrooms alongside a gown growing from fantastic fungi.

Versace: 

• Gilded tiles, Baroque columns, and Versace’s Medusa capture the Italian brand’s feeling of modern opulence within its exhibition room.
• On display are bondage-inspired pieces from the brand’s now-legendary autumn/winter 1992 collection, ‘Miss S&M’.
• Snapchat brings the experience to life, letting Snapchatters wear buckled looks that morph into writhing snakes as the mythological Medusa is brought to life, and transforms into the viewer themself.

Along with physical fashion being used to unlock phenomenal AR experiences, the exhibition’s facade will also be digitally “wrapped” by designers using Snap’s impressive Landmarker technology, transforming the building’s exterior.

“It has always been important to me to make fashion accessible for all. Using augmented reality, Vogue x Snapchat: Redefining the Body is an exhibition that invites everyone – regardless of race, gender, sexuality and size – to experience and enjoy fashion from some of the world’s very best designers and luxury brands,” said Enninful in an official press release, adding “It doesn’t get better than that.” 

During an SXSW 2022 panel called Future Fashion: Physical Form’s Challenge, panelist Samuel Alexander, CEO of C2C Fashion and Technology LLC, talked about how the clothing we wore was more than just a fashion statement; it reflects who we are as people.

He envisioned the day he’d be able to tell that story in a more rich and meaningful way and saw AR technology from companies like Snap Inc. as the key to unlocking that layer.

“We are thrilled to partner with Vogue to empower hundreds of millions of Snapchatters around the world to digitally experience fashion from top designers and brands,” said Evan Siegel, Co-Founder and CEO of Snap inc. “Through this exhibition, and augmented reality more broadly, we hope to introduce new levels of accessibility, creativity, and expression to the fashion and design world.” 

Vogue x Snapchat: Redefining the Body will also see Vogue and Snapchat partnering with DressX to create a capsule collection for the exhibition. This collection will include limited-edition Vogue x Snapchat merch and will be available on the DressX site and at the exhibition for guests to “try on” in AR.

Each of the AR fashion experiences was developed in collaboration with Arcadia, Atomic Digital Design, and Snap’s newly established Paris AR Studio which is focused on empowering and educating the next generation of creators in an effort to inspire the world about the possibilities of augmented reality across art, education, and culture. You can also try on some of the outfits at home by visiting Snapchat’s Lens carousel or in the Dress Up tab in Lens Explorer.

Vogue x Snapchat: Redefining the Body launches today. For more information, click here. 

Image Credit: Snap Inc.

Google Maps is getting a major upgrade.

During Google’s 2-hour long 2022 I/O event last week, the company made a number of exciting announcements, including the reveal of a new mid-tier phone as well as a pair of AR glasses capable of translating multiple languages in real-time. 

Google also revealed world-scale AR experiences for Google Maps that will greatly improve the Street View experience on your mobile device, changing the way you view the world while wearing a pair of Google’s AR glasses when they become available.

Through digital transformation using Google’s AR Geospatial API, Cloud Anchors, and Visual Position System (VPI), Google envisions an experience in which AR is used to help you navigate any city, town, or rural countryside across 87 countries. The technology could also be used to offer a unique and personalized immersive experience using location-based AR effects. Imagine an AR landmark that could not only change the way you see the outside world but also create amazing 3D AR effects that can be viewed inside buildings and public venues. 

What you get is an experience that uses terrain anchors, 3D building geometry, and geometric anchors that can be used to bring a landmark to life or give you directions to the closest pizza shop. A more detailed map experience that allows you to gain a closer look at building details, learn about cool underground music venues, and discover locations off the beaten path for you to chill and have a cup of coffee. 

You could also use world-scale mapping and AR to help you see different times of the day so you can pick a sunny spot for that important morning coffee.

All of this is possible through blending photorealistic 3D worlds (visualization), abstract 3D worlds (analysis), and machine-readable 3D worlds (location) together to create maps that can be used by humans, autonomous vehicles, and machines for all types of interactions, including information, directions, and entertainment. You can even use the technology as a way to leave an AR flier that can be accessed by your friends to find a secret party.

One way Google highlighted this world-scale digital transformation during I/O 2022 was through ridesharing and micromobility, where drivers and riders would have accurate information on pick-up location, helping drivers find empty parking spots in real-time in any location in any large city around the world.

Of course, this could also have a massive impact on our day-to-day lives as more cities and towns look towards digital twinning for improved energy and water infrastructure, traffic flow, and land development. It can and even impact how first-responders navigate situations and provide assistance during a large emergency situation. You can read more about Google’s world-scale AR goals on their developer’s blog.

Image Credit: Google

The first Live Nation concert to use Snap AR Lenses will be the Electric Daisy Carnival later this month.

Snap and Live Nation Entertainment are teaming up for a multiyear deal that will bring Snapchat AR (augmented reality) experiences to select Live Nation concerts that you can use to find your friends in the crowd, bring the stage and festival grounds to life with AR content, and of course share content on social media. 

The first Live Nation concerts to debut Snapchat’s interactive AR lenses will be on May 20-22 during the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. EDC is the largest electronic dance music (EDM) festival in North America, and this year’s Las Vegas lineup will feature popular EDM artists such as Ac Slater B2B Chris Lorenzo, Deorro, DJ Snake, Kream, Lp Giobbi, Nostalgix B2B Wenzday, and many more. 

The Electric Daisy Carnival will feature eight different stages that the artists perform on. The rest of the festival grounds are designed to immerse you into these fantastical worlds. This year organizers are bringing a ninth stage to the festival called Bionic Jungle. 

Both Snap and Live Nation envision AR becoming a normal part of any concert experience in the same way we see large video screens being used during shows, and with live music fans already bringing their smartphones with them to take photos and videos—or to use as a light to sway over our heads—why not leverage their own perspective as part of the concert experience and use AR to make the experience even more memorable?

Snapchat currently has an average of 600 million daily users, so there’s a pretty good chance that many of those EDM fans in attendance at the Electric Daisy Carnival will have a Snapchat account. 

Ben Schwerin, Snap’s senior VP of content and partnerships is counting on that. During a recent Snap Partner Summit, Schwerin said, “We can leverage this huge user base we have in a way that will make augmented reality the next phase of visual expression for artists.”

Music fans will not only be able to use AR to bring their surroundings to life, but Snap and Live Nation also plan on letting you try on concert merch using AR to see how you look in a t-shirt, hat, or sunglasses. 

This idea isn’t to keep people on their phones during the entire concert. Schwerin explains how they plan on having AR Lenses being used to strategically enhance moments of the performance. “Each video that gets shared is a really powerful promotion for people who see that to go buy tickets to a concert or festival themselves.” With Snapchat reaching 90% of people between the ages of 13 and 24 in the U.S, these AR-enabled concerts could be an excellent way to attract younger audiences.

To create their concert AR Lenses, Snap will turn to their own creative studio Arcadia to produce content for the Electric Daisy Carnival along with working with artists at future Live Nation events. This includes popular festivals such as Austin City Limits, Beyond Wonderland, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Day Trip Festiva, Leeds Festival, Lollapalooza Chicago, Lollapalooza Paris, Reading Festival, Rolling Loud, Roots Picnic, Governors Ball, Wireless Festival, and Lights On.

The idea of using AR and VR technology as part of a live concert experience is growing more popular among promoters and artists. Artists such as the Foo Fighters, 2 Chainz, Megan Thee Stallion, and Billie Eilish have either performed live in VR or launched a VR experience, and just recently Coachella launched Coachellaverse, a digital experience that allows fans from all around the world to interact with the festival in a way that uses a combination of immersive technologies.

Image Credit: Coachella