The explosion of the Meta Universe brought augmented reality to life, and Snap has already created a full breakthrough.

There are always new technologies and new trends in the tech industry. This concept, which has been around for years, suddenly became the hottest technology when Facebook, not too long ago, suddenly changed its name to meta and devoted itself to “metaverse”.

The meta-world is a rough concept that can be integrated with a variety of technologies such as augmented / virtual displays (AR / VR), payment sharing, digital people, etc.

The sound of the meta is the most popular in the wave meta world today, but in fact it was the pioneer who laid the deepest foundations for the global production of meta technology that cannot overcome all fair and unfair competition. Rivals - Snapchat.

When Snap Company released its quarterly results this summer, Silicon Stars wrote: In the age of relationships, human care is also weak. happen. It's an empty cycle: new products gain popularity, existing products lose demand and consumers. Snapchat has already felt this pain a lot. However, Snap's decline over the past year has continued to deepen and quarterly profits have increased.

Snapchat was launched in 2011 and is now 10 years old and is now nearing the end of its social software life. The main theme of this product is "hot after reading". But so far, 10 years later, Snapchat has yet to "pay" ...

According to data released by Snap for Silicon Stars, Snapchat now has 90% access to the design industry, beyond Facebook, Instagram and FB Messenger. Snapchat generates 5 billion photos / videos daily.

Without a doubt, the biggest sponsor of Snapchat's re-emergence is the company's year of hard work in the AR space. According to Snap insiders, in Q4 2020, at least 200 million modern users are using AR technology developed by partners using Snapchat's own Snapchat apps and devices. End users get to know and use AR effects with special lenses. Snapchat up to 30 times a day ...

This information makes Snapchat the king of AR mobile internet. And if we are to deal with the meaning of meta-universes, it is no exaggeration that those with mastery of AR own the meta-world.

When it comes to Snapchat, everything has only just begun. On December 7 US time, Snap held its annual AR Ecological Conference Lens Fest and posted several important topics, such as equipment upgrades and green improvements.

Lens Studio: a major overhaul of the AR mobile development platform

In Silicon Valley, the mobile operating system platform companies represented by Apple and Google have supported AR for many years. In previous development meetings, ARKit and ARCore took up more space. However, in fact, these two companies have a strong presence in the tech industry, but their AR development is the most popular. There are several reasons, but the biggest problem is that there is no specific murder.

It's not a Snapchat issue. The Snapchat app is a camera when you open the screen, and AR special effects are built right into the camera, making it the most versatile of the thousands of photos and video content users upload daily.

Xcode is used for iOS updates and Android Studio is used for Android updates. And who will be the most advanced device for mobile AR in the coming era of the meta-world?

Until now, Snap's Lens Studio could be the answer model.

Lens Studio is a tool artists and software developers use to create filters and many other special AR features. Besides being an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), it integrates with Unreal / Unity / Blender and other software and provides full 3D application and environment enhancement.

Lens Studio, a special enhancement for Snapchat AR filters and special effects, also integrates with advanced tracking devices (such as face, hands, legs, etc.) to make mobile AR development very simple and streamlined. .

At this year's Lens Fest, Snap announced the upcoming release of Lens Studio version 4.10. This is the biggest update since its release, and it adds some important new features like music, real-time physical effects, deep gestures, learning to speak, and more.

Popular music has always been sought after by short video software users, this time Snap has added music directly through the AR filter system. The repertoire includes performances by popular artists and from all genres, a wide selection and a total of millions of songs and sounds.

Adding Music to AR Special Effects in Lens Studio Development

Engine Physics is the most significant update in Lens Studio 4.10, in a sense, allowing virtual objects in the AR environment to be influenced by various objects such as gravity, plus, mass, acceleration. and the real world (e.g. water mechanics, stiffness. physical mechanics)., shape and collision) affect:

Due to the low power consumption, "reality" has always been a challenge for AR / VR (especially mobile AR / VR) in the past. The addition of this physics engine makes AR special effects using Snapchat and its technology more sophisticated and intuitive. meta edge) has become a milestone.

World Mesh is also an important part of this update. Essentially, this allows AR developers to use their phones directly to analyze their surroundings, create depth diagrams, and then bring them to Lens Studio for use directly in AR special development. World Mesh is very realistic for creating virtual 3D environments, supporting non-lidar devices, and also supporting the release of AR technology from non-Snap companies like ARKit and ARCore.

In Lens Studio 4.10 release, Snap improves the functionality of the third-party API library (API library). In the past, developers could send external data in real time to AR filters.

As a result of this update, developers will be able to work better with AR filter media and create custom APIs as needed to enable multiple file formats (e.g. e-commerce, translation). , weather forecast, stock / crypto quotes, etc.). Switch to AR filter ...

(The reason we need to make financial markets profitable is AR special ... The latest $ GME event makes us aware of Gen Z, who travels online every day. Khw ......)

Make the New AR Development Industry Thousands of Dollars

In order for an employee to do their job well, they must first make their tools smart. Meanwhile, Snap released an update to Lens Studio, giving AR developers access to robust devices. But how do you avoid the situation after ARKit / ARCore is released and no one is happy to follow?

Snap's response is to turn AR development into a business and make money for everyone involved.

These participants include AR artists / developers, broadcasters, and Snap itself as a platform.

Snap announced the Creator Marketplace in June of this year. Today, the market has become a preferred platform for the marketing of AR developers and advertisers.

Any AR developer who wants to capitalize on their creative abilities can create their own account page on Creator Marketplace and view the value of the services they can provide. Advertisers can explore this platform to find and connect with developers who match their style, communicate ideas and place orders. After creating your custom AR special effects, you can integrate them into Snapchat products or external apps.

Source Creators Marketplace: Snap screenshots

As a result, everyone who participates in this exchange can meet their financial goals: AR developers receive development fees, advertising runs on Snapchat, and advertising revenue from Snap. A good AR filter helps advertisers improve their brand reputation and then meet sales / consumer volume growth goals.

Creator Marketplace is Snap's big experiment to grow into a new business model that no longer uses AR as a technology and business product.

As a result of these initiatives, Snap discovered that AR has been placed in a dynamic new growth market in the mobile social space.

This year, Snap hired an industry research company to conduct a survey and found that more than a third of those surveyed in their post-infection purchasing process (such as clothing) prefer to use AR technology for experiments at long distance. -to. Try in an offline store instead of keeping yourself healthy.

Internal company data also provides support for AR performance in the driving industry.

Clothing brand American Eagle previously had an AR partnership with Snapchat, and Snapchat's custom AR filter ultimately generated around $ 200 million in revenue per year. Companies invested a portion of their digital ad capital in the Snap AR advertising platform, achieving a 7x ROI.

Carolina Navas, director of AR strategy at Snap, told Lens Fest that AR has proven to be an important part of the industry and has become an integral part of business strategy in new opportunities.

Compared to modern digital broadcasting, what AR technology develops by brands and audiences is not just the relationship between the broadcaster and the audience, but entertainment, fun, and relationships.

For example, the image below shows the collaborative AR filter effect of famous French DJ David Guetta's Snapchat tour performance. More (?) Manual)) Introduce digital broadcasts.

In ten years, from product development to today, Snap has completed the AR ecosystem.AR is developed by Snapchat app and Lens Studio, AR is distributed by app, glasses, cameras and camera accessories provided for third party apps (cameras to third party apps can also be integrated with various AR technologies from Snap ), AR Content, Commercial platforms with Creator Marketplace and AR content funded by Snap Lens. advertisements and other uses and events that include camera accessories.

As mentioned in a Silicon Stars article, the camera / AR industry is key to Snap's revenue growth and boost for the brand. Snapchat had 500 million monthly users and 370 million daily active users in the first quarter of this year. Two-thirds of modern users use Snapchat's AR technology every day, and the average amount of time each user experiences an AR Special Lens effect can be as high as 30 per day.

——Snapchat is already one of the most popular cameras in the world, and with the support of AR technology it has become the most used AR app by users, and without a hitch believe Snapchat can become a total meta . - Future world / virtual life (whatever you mean) before shutdown.