Download Snapchat and try Newest Lenses

Posted on August 22, 2017 by

Snapchat has long been known for its popular face filters. The newest addition to the popular messaging app seeks to put a “world lens” on your view for elements of augmented reality that you can apply to any scene at all. Afterwards you will be able to capture the picture or video on your camera, all the while, adding various 3D objects while you walk around.

To be more specific, Snapchat does not actually use what is widely known as “augmented reality” when announcing this new filter. They choose rather to give the nickname of “painting the world” with new 3D experience.

There will be a familiarity with the service, however, especially for those who enjoyed the AR cards that came with Nintendo 3DS in its early inception. These cards allowed the user to place and then interact, virtually, with graphics in 3D that actually looked like they were anchored to your very own real world environment.

Demo videos of this new feature have been very impressive indeed, when it comes to AR technology. It does not require a QR code, nor do you need any particular markers, such as with the Nintendo cards, for the graphics to be anchored. Whatever your camera or video captures integrates the graphics you add in real time.

These new filters are very easy to use, which was Snap’s plan all along. As with other filters, all you need to do is tap the screen while the rear-facing camera is in use, and then cycle through any number of World Lenses. In addition, as with other Snapchat filters, these are updated every single day as well.

Building on other popular additions to Lenses in the past, this newest features looks to be a fun new twist to Snapchat’s filter lineup. It probably will not be long before competitors of Snapchat form their own version of the augmented reality for their own messengers, since that seems to be the going trend. However, how long will it take Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and others to follow suit?

For the inception of the launch, no third-party sponsored ads will be attached to the World Lenses. The company admits, however, that there are plenty of opportunities for money to be made from the new Snapchat features. It is quite possible that ads will eventually be added, with some type of tie-in to either the filters themselves or the particular “real world” area you happen to be in while using them.