Snapchat

This Hilarious Snapchat Lens Turns You Into A Pixar Character

June 11, 2021 From vrscout.com

Live your dream of becoming a Disney cartoon with the new ‘Cartoon 3D Style’ Lens.

Ever catch yourself wishing you were a Disney Pixar character? To those who said yes, you’ll definitely want to check out the new Cartoon 3D Style Lens from Snapchat.

Available now via the Snapchat app (iOS, Android), this amazing/terrifying filter uses augmented reality (AR) technology to transform you into an original cartoon character that looks like it was taken straight out of a Disney Pixar film. After downloading and activating the Lens, you can tap on the screen to jump back and forth between two different facial styles.

Despite having just released on the multimedia messaging app, users are already having a field day with this one-of-a-kind Lens, and the results so far have been impressive, to say the least.

One creative user used the filter to recreate a scene from the popular animated film Frozen, playing both the roles of Anna and Hans simultaneously. Another user used the Lens while lipsynching the song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from the classic Pixar film Toy Story.

Apparently, the Cartoon 3D Style Lens also works on 2D images, including famous works of art such as the Mona Lisa, a self-portrait of Vincent Van Gogh, and Girl with a Pearl Earring, as well as inanimate objects, like this Vin Diesel action figure (WARNING: NSFW). There’s even a hilarious Disney-fied version of former US president Barrack Obama.

The Cartoon 3D Style Lens can be accessed via Snapchat’s Lens Carousel or by scanning the image above.

Snapchat made waves last month during its annual Snap Partner Summit with the reveal of its new AR-enabled Snap Spectacles as well as updates to its Scan and Camera tools.

Feature Image Credit: VRScout

Snapchat Lens Turns Real-World Objects Into AR Instruments

May 22, 2021 From vrscout.com

Start a virtual band using this clever Snapchat Lens from smart musical instruments creator Artiphon.

Artiphon, creator of smart musical instruments such as the Orba and INSTRUMENT 1, this week unveiled its first Snapchat Lens, Scan Band.

Available now via the Snapchat app, Scan Band uses a combination of augmented reality (AR) and machine learning to convert everyday objects into interactive virtual instruments. Powered by Snap’s Scan objection recognition technology, the Lens works by scanning and identifying real-world objects and transforming them into what the company describes as “origami-inspired” stickers. According to Artiphon, scannable objects include everything from plants and pets to pieces of food and other random objects.

“You can scan an orange and play it like a guitar,” stated the company in an official release. “Punch a balloon that sounds like a synth. Set a bunch of banana drums on the floor for your friend to trip over. Or just add a splash of notes while out for a walk. Scan Band isn’t about traditional music-making, it’s about creating musical videos throughout the moments of your day.”

These digital instruments can be interacted with in a variety of ways, from simply tapping on the screen to choreographing your own interpretive dance routine. Scan Band is also one of the first Snap Lenses to make use of Snap’s new AudioML technology, which allowed the company to include its own professionally-trained musical ML model.

Artiphon’s Scan Band Lens was featured earlier this week at the 2021 Snap Partner Summit, during which Snap unveiled several exciting updates to its growing multimedia messaging app. In addition to its new Connected Lenses, a new type of Lens that allows you to interact with other users in real-time either locally or remotely, the company also unveiled the latest iteration of its Snap Spectacles, which feature AR functionality powered by the Snap Spatial Engine.

“We’ve been designing AR Music technology for the past few years in secret, so we’re jazzed to finally show the world what we’ve been up to,” said Artiphon founder/CEO Dr. Mike Butera to Snap Summit Partner audience members.

“For us, AR Music represents the possibility to go beyond the traditional notion that only musicians can make music. With Scan Band, people are collaborating with a smart virtual instrument right in the video. It’s such a new experience. We just want to inspire people to be sonically creative in the nooks and crannies of their day.”

Scan Band is available now for free via the Snapchat app. All you have to do is scan the QR code provided above.

Feature Image Credit: Artiphon

Snap Is Acquiring WaveOptics, Its AR Display Supplier

May 21, 2021 From uploadvr.com

Snap is buying WaveOptics for more than $500 million, The Verge reports.

WaveOptics is a UK-based company founded in 2014. It supplies transparent optical waveguides and accompanying projectors.

Snap, the company behind Snapchat, revealed its first AR glasses yesterday, with WaveOptics displays onboard. While the field of view is much narrower than headsets like HoloLens & Magic Leap, the display is much brighter so can be practically used outdoors.

The Verge report claims the roughly 125 person team at WaveOptics will now report to Snap’s hardware vision, but will continue to supply other companies while working to build custom optics for Spectacles.

Back in 2018 Apple acquired Akonia Holographics, a startup working on holographic waveguides. Facebook has spoken of developing custom waveguides, and last year acquired a key microLED display supplier. Microsoft works closely with MicroVision for its HoloLens range. All three have spoken of plans to ship consumer AR in coming years.

As the specs of Spectacles show, AR is still a very early technology. There are still huge technical hurdles to overcome to appeal to a broad consumer market – hurdles that could take the better part of this decade overcome. Companies like Snap are preparing now to shape this new landscape – or at least to not be left behind.

Snapchat Reveals Next-Gen AR Glasses, But There’s A Catch

May 20, 2021 From vrscout.com

The popular multimedia messaging app announced a slew of exciting features during its third annual Snap Partner Summit.

Earlier today, Snap Inc. held its third annual Snap Partner Summit, during which co-founders Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and other members of the team revealed a handful of exciting features on their way to the Snapchat app.

Among today’s many announcements were several updates to the app’s Scan and Camera tools, including new shortcuts located directly on the main camera screen which make it easier to access these increasingly powerful features. Beginning today, the Snapchat app can now recommend related camera modes, Lenses, and soundtracks depending on what the camera is looking at. Additional new features, such as Screenshop, allows you to scan real-world clothing to receive recommendations from hundreds of brands. Upcoming features, such as Allrecipes, will take the experience even further by allowing you to scan real-world food in order to receive specific recipes.

Today’s event also saw the reveal of various updates to Lens Studio, a free desktop app that allows you to create your own Lenses and effects with little-to-know developer experience. This includes Connected Lenses, a new type of Lens that allows you to interact with other users in real-time, whether you’re located in the same room or across the world. To help demonstrate the power of Connected Lenses, Snap Inc. has released a LEGO-like brick-building Lens, enabling you to create colorful structures with others in augmented reality (AR).

Arguably the most exciting announcement from today’s event, however, is the all-new Snap Spectacles. Designed specifically for Snap creators, these lightweight glasses are capable of generating AR visuals in real-time. Using the companies proprietary Snap Spatial Engine, these AR-enabled smart glasses feature dual 3D waveguide displays, a 26.3-degree field of view, two RGB cameras, four built-in microphones, and two stereo speakers.

The device itself is controlled via a dedicated touchpad mounted directly onto the glasses themselves, allowing users to launch different Lenses from the carousel as well as activate the Scan tool. Users can also use Voice Scan to search for and launch Lenses straight from the headset. Everything you know and love about the app is present on these next-gen glasses, including 6DoF movement and hand, body, and surface tracking.

Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR1 processor, the new Spectacles weigh just 134 grams and offer 30 minutes of action per charge; not bad for a dedicated AR device with such a slim design. Seeing as the glasses were built specifically with creators in mind, the new Spectacles can be tethered wirelessly to Lens Studio, allowing for more seamless testing.

Sounds a little too good to be true, right? Well, that’s only because it is. Unfortunately, the latest Snapchat Spectacles will not be available for consumer purchase. Rather, the company is working directly alongside the following Snap creators in order to further test the technology:

Don Allen Stevenson III | XR Developer | Vibe Quest AR
Lauren Cason | Creative Technologist | Taos, Caldera, and Anita
Kat V. Harris | Technical Designer | Dance Helper
Zach Lieberman | Artist | Poem World (with Shantell Martin)
Matthew Hallberg | AR Developer | SketchFlow
Clay Weishaar | AR Creator | Metascapes
Leighton McDonald | VR/AR Creator | BlackSoul Gallery

Those interested in going hands-on can learn more about the program over at spectacles.com/creators.

For more information on the hardware as well as today’s other announcements, check out the companies official release.

Feature Image Credit: Snap Inc.

Snap Reveals Narrow-FoV AR Spectacles For Creators With 30 Minute Battery

May 20, 2021 From uploadvr.com

Snap just announced new Spectacles with AR capabilities, which it plans to ship to eligible AR experience creators this year.

Snap inc has shipped three Spectacles branded glasses products to date. The previous models didn’t have any form of display system – they functioned solely as wearable cameras, exporting captured clips to the Snapchat app.

The new reveal isn’t a total surprise- The Information reported on Snap’s plan back in March, though we didn’t know the details until now.

The new Spectacles have dual waveguide displays with a diagonal field of view of just 26.3 degrees, an impressive 2000 nits of brightness, and end-to-end latency of less than 15 milliseconds so virtual objects appear solid in place.

That’s a much narrower field of view than AR headsets like HoloLens 2 (52° diagonal) & Magic Leap One (50° diagonal) – and those already feel narrow. That said, at 2000 nits Spectacles are 4x brighter than HL2 and 10x than Magic Leap, making them suitable for use outdoors.

Qualcomm’s XR1 chip is used with two RGB cameras, one on each side, to perform spatial tracking of the world as well as hand tracking and video capture.

They weigh 134 grams – around three pairs of regular specs – with a battery life of around 30 minutes. A touchpad on the side can be used for precise input, and there are dedicated area scan & clip capture buttons too.

Spectacles aren’t a general purpose computer – you don’t build apps for them in Unity. Instead they integrate directly with Snap’s existing AR platform, which has hundreds of millions of active users. Creators can build ‘Lenses’ (AR experiences) for Spectacles & the Snapchat app using Lens Studio.

This isn’t a product you can buy, at least not yet, but you can apply for Spectacles as a prospective creator on Snapchat’s website.