Facebook’s AR Studio Is Now a Reality for All Third Parties

Tuesday is an augmented reality kind of day at Facebook. The social network announced that the AR Studio it introduced at F8 in April is now available to all third parties. At launch, AR Studio was made available to more than 2,000 brands, publishers and artists, enabling them to create and build animated frames, masks and other AR experiences. And “in the coming days,” Facebook will add World Effects technology to AR studio, which will let people place 3D objects into their surroundings and interact with them in real-time. Facebook director of engineering Ficus Kirkpatrick wrote in a blog post: “We want artists, developers, brands and more creators to be able to build and share amazing AR experiences. By opening AR Studio to all creators, we’re taking steps toward making AR more a part of everyday life. We’ve been continuously advancing the capabilities of the platform with improved face tracking, new graphics capabilities, better scripting and now World Effects. This is only the beginning, and we can’t wait to see how creators bring art to life through AR Studio.” The social network also shared examples of how early adopter HBO used AR Studio to promote the final episode of season seven of Game of Thrones: Facebook’s Messenger application was not left out of the AR party, as World Effects technology was added to its list of visual messaging features Tuesday. World Effects will enable Messenger users to add 3D elements to their conversations, including hearts, arrows, robots and unicorns, as well as word bubbles such as love, bae, heart and miss you. To access these new features, Messenger users can open their Messenger Camera from their inboxes or from inside existing conversations by tapping the camera icon, and then scroll through the available selections. The social network said in a blog post: “It's been almost exactly one year since we introduced the powerful, native camera for Messenger and, given that momentous timing, we're excited to introduce today a new feature for visual messaging—World Effects. World Effects technology enables you to drop 3D objects into your surroundings to capture and share fun moments with your family and friends. For example, add a 3D heart floating over someone's head and then try panning your phone's camera from side to side. Or use an arrow to point to an exact object or location in a panorama so your friend knows what you're referring to. Or better yet, add a new fun, celebratory robot to an otherwise everyday setting and spice things up a bit. (Hint: be sure to try the robot out with your phone's volume turned up—the robot plays three different kinds of music!)”