Learn what Snap is doing as a global leader in AR.

As we invest in our long-term vision in augmented reality, Snap continues to break boundaries today with exciting and innovative AR projects around the globe. To offer a glimpse into augmented reality created across the company, we’ve launched the AR Recap, a bi-weekly review of many of our latest AR campaigns and experiences. Check out some of the best AR projects from the last two weeks, and don’t forget to send your own nominees to bhb@snap.com!

Meet Your Avatar 

Location: Global

Available: Globally

Ready to enter Pandora? With a new Lens from Disney, you can come face to face with your Avatar.

In the runup to the long-awaited release of Avatar 2: The Way of the Water, Disney partnered with Snap to help Snapchatters transform into blue-skinned Na’vi. The Lens, created by our Facecraft, RND, and Cameos teams, relies on skin segmentation and face ML to transform each Snapchatter’s face, hair, skin, and body — creating a personalized experience where your avatar looks like you, and no one else.

"Bringing this cinematic experience to mobile devices was a tough challenge, as it took hours to render each frame of the original Avatar movie. Making it happen required months of tight collaboration between our 3D artists and ML engineers, but at the end we have the most responsive and personalized 3D characters we've ever made,” Technical Artist Oleksii Vorobiov and Machine Learning Engineer Viacheslav Ivanov wrote of the experience. 

As members of the RND Lens team reported, though there were many technical difficulties and iterations of the Lens, the team was “very inspired” by the collaboration, and achieved great results. 

“It was a unique and unforgettable experience to work on such cool ML Lens, and we’re looking forward to the film’s release!” added members of the Cameos team. 

ARtist Collaboration in Doha a Model Success

Snap’s GBX and AR Platform Partnerships & Ecosystem teams joined forces with supermodel/business mogul Noami Campbell to bring the artwork of Kehinde Wiley to life at the EMERGE Art exhibit in Doha.

EMERGE, an initiative helmed by Campbell, seeks to elevate the next generation of talent in art and business. Wiley — an American painter best known for painting the official Obama portraits and for his striking studies on colonialism — joined this fall's exhibition as a master, contributing the show-stopping "Portrait of Madeleine Dieng Ndoye." 

“Naomi reached out to ask if we would get involved — she’s been a fan of Snap AR for many years (she even has her own Lens!), and she was inspired by the Snap x Alex Israel exhibit in Cannes,” said Ben Schwerin, SVP of Content and Partnerships. "We were very excited to work with Kehinde again following our collaboration on the Obama portraits in DC."

Now, with a Lens built by the Dubai-based developer team at Tactical, observers can watch Wiley’s already-hypnotic portrait escape its frame, blossoming across the gallery walls. The Tactical team managed a spectacular turnaround for the project, going from concept to launch in just two weeks! 

“We think the Lens turned out super well, and we hope to work with both Kehinde and Naomi again in the future,” said Ben.

It’s Coming Hublot

Location: UAE

Available: Globally

The World Cup kicked off this month, and no matter what team you’re backing, you’ll be able to show support with this new Lens. Hublot, the official timekeeper of the FIFA World Cup, just launched a new 360 degrees Try-On lens. 

The Lens features a smaller carousel that lets Snapchatters swipe through each flag designed watched strap until they find their country of choice — Snapchatters can try on and even purchase the Hublot Big Bang e FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 watch in-app. 

The Lens will be available for the duration of the FIFA world cup.

LA UNDERWATER

Location: Los Angeles

Available: Globally

This fall, Snap Philanthropy teamed up with our Global Brand Experience team and Snap Lens Network partners Sallia Goldstein and Jye Trudinger to create and promote an on-site Lens experience aligned with the new L.A. Underwater exhibit at the  Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM). 

The new fossil-based exhibit explores the underwater realm of ancient Los Angeles when much of the area was submerged beneath the prehistoric Pacific Ocean. Thanks to two Lenses from Snap, visitors can use their phones to bring some of the ancient marine creatures featured in the exhibit back to life!

“The team at NHM has been exploring education-based activations for Snap A.R. since March 2020, when we hosted a workshop at the La Brea Tar Pits teaching teens how to make Lenses using models of Tar Pits animals. Their lead exhibition developer, Dr. Matt Davis, has been using those Lenses in scientific papers and conference presentations about digital engagement ever since,” said Snap Philanthropy Program Manager Chandelle Wiebe Hakim.

Now, the team hopes to create similar engagement for this exhibit. 

“This collaboration has helped us expand beyond the walls of our exhibition into the L.A. communities where these fossils were actually discovered. With Snap. A.R., Angelenos can virtually hold an extinct anglerfish right in the Wilshire/Vermont Metro station where the fossil was unearthed,” said Dr. Davis.