Snap wants to take AR everywhere: The Snapchat-maker unveiled Custom Landmarkers Wednesday, allowing its 250,000 lens creators to build AR experiences tied to storefronts, sculptures or any other public landmarks.
The feature is a major step toward a future in which AR glasses allow people to access contextually relevant AR content wherever they go, but it also underscores some of the discovery challenges that lie ahead for ubiquitous AR content.
Snap allows creators to build location-based AR content by using both its Lens Studio desktop software as well as mobile devices. The process involves scanning a landmark with a high-end iPhone with Lidar sensor, and then importing the resulting 3D data into Lens Studio.
Some creators who had early access to Custom Landmarkers have said they were able to create geospatially anchored AR content in as little as one day. “This will hopefully hugely scale the number of locations that are enabled for augmented reality,” said Qi Pan, Snap’s Computer Vision Engineering director.
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Author: Janko Roettgers
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