New features are available on Spark AR thanks to Lidar!
Meta has released new features on Spark AR, the software for creating Instagram filters and Facebook. This news proves that the American giant wants to develop the quality of its augmented reality content.
Reels at the heart of Meta's strategy
Some of the announced updates focus on audio tools that allow creators to add more comprehensive and polished audio on Instagram. This will allow them to add sound and audio effects.
Other new features focus on augmented reality effects. Firstly, it is now possible to detect the relief in the camera to make the filter more immersive. Secondly, Spark AR can now identify objects in the scene and assign a texture over them to disguise them.
With these new features in Spark AR, virtual objects will be able to blend into the background and hide behind real objects already in the environment. This is made possible by the occlusion feature of Spark AR which adds even more reality to the immersive experience.
All this is intended to increase the creative freedom for the Reels. Indeed, filters and sound effects are very important elements for the creators of Reels. This audiovisual content has gone viral and to attract creators, social networks need to offer the best features.
At the moment, all these features are only available on Instagram but we have no doubt that this will develop on Facebook as well.
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Features on Spark AR that increase the accuracy of filters using Lidar
All these new features on Spark AR are made possible by Lidar. Lidar is an old but little used technology that allows the camera to detect the relief in an environment. Thus a smartphone is capable of knowing the distance between objects and the camera.
At the moment, only the Iphones 12 and 13 have Lidar in their camera. So the new features on Spark AR, while powerful, will not be widely used by users yet.
However, it is certain that other smartphone brands will start integrating Lidar into their next phones to avoid losing competitiveness.
Indeed, AR creativity has proven its worth and is considered by experts to be an element not to be neglected in the age of connectivity.
Instagram is not alone in offering advanced features for augmented reality filters. Indeed, Snapchat and TikTok are the leaders in AR effects and Instagram is trying to catch up with them but it is taking time. TikTok released a filter for New Year's Eve last year that used Lidar. This meant that confetti landed on landforms and the ground in the environment and even on the person. At the time, the filter caused a stir, but because very few people had the Iphone 12, it was hardly used.
However, this little buzz allowed TikTok to show its ability to develop its application and at the same time make a communication coup easily.
With the opening of the augmented reality glasses market, Lidar is a technology that could revolutionise glasses and the immersive experience. Indeed, the detection of the relief makes it possible to create very precise and useful functionalities. For example, for GPS, it would allow navigation to be integrated into the glasses and to indicate exactly how far to turn.
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