
AR Studio - milen
https://developers.facebook.com/products/camera-effects/ar-studio/
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DarkTree
Yet another example of how the tv show, Silicon Valley, hits the nail on the
head [1].

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAEAbqrE5Zw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAEAbqrE5Zw)

~~~
degenerate
Wow they nailed it 100%.

I can think of two "useful" applications of this tech... 1) see what you look
like with cosmetic surgery / tattoo / etc before permanently modifying your
body. 2) Try on clothes before shopping online.

But both still don't solve the underlying issue I have with this tech. Even
the "useful" ideas for it boil down to satisfying people's vanity. It solves
no problem, it provides no useful benefit to humanity. It's the same with
Valve making hats for TF2 and skins for CS:Go instead of focusing on making
great new games with story and content and adventure. This AR tech is the
equivalent of serving a poopie diaper in a 5-star restaurant and calling it
"Powerful Foods to inspire the imagination." And people are eating it all up.

Is this what we are moving toward?

~~~
fossuser
If you consider an AR future where the tech is small and integrated into your
visual field via something like a contact lense then there are more
applications.

\- Look at items and see metadata around the item itself (or ability to pull
that data up, like someone's name)

\- Interact with objects across the room by looking at them

\- See things like GPS way points in real space

I think an AR like this could solve real problems by merging the information
available via the internet and what exists in our real world space, but the
tech necessary to do it well isn't here yet (and there are still some unsolved
problems: [http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-
hard-...](http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-ar-
anytime-soon/))

~~~
moron4hire
I've seen Dr Ken Perlin give some very convincing arguments for how networked
AR has the potential to completely change human language. When the fundamental
nature of what we see is completely arbitrary, and we can elect to share that
with other people in situ, then we basically become magicians.

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iagooar
This is Facebook, a company worth billions of dollars, showcasing their last,
earth shaking tech that is going to change mankind forever. Add silly hats and
stars to your selfies! How could we live for so long without it!

~~~
dmreedy
I hate to sound like I'm defending facebook, because on instinct I'd agree
with you. But I always have to be careful to remind myself not to
underestimate the power of play as a driver of discovery. Feynman spinning
plates and whatnot.

~~~
transcranial
Great video on the power of play as a driver of innovation/invention:

[https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/04/13/how-play-is-at-
the...](https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/04/13/how-play-is-at-the-heart-of-
many-world-changing-inventions/)

~~~
laughingman2
But this isn't play you are speaking of, this is just a "play" on vanity to
boost personal data collection by a soulless corporation.

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milen
If you're interested in the app, there's a tutorial of how to build an effect
with 3D Objects [1].

[1] [https://developers.facebook.com/docs/camera-
effects/tutorial...](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/camera-
effects/tutorials/building-an-effect-with-3d-objects)

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sunnyam
I think this has good potential to overtake Snapchat in popularity. The
Snapchat masks/filters are very same-y and this would allow for a much larger
variety to choose from.

Will be interested to see how Facebook can both show more "filters" and not
crowd the screen or have a hard to use marketplace.

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timfrietas
This is a very smart move by Facebook, assuming they can walk the UGC line.
They are in pole position to do that, too, because of the social graph data
they have (e.g., only promote filters trending among friends or friends-of-
friends).

If there was any doubt that Snapchat was what kept Zuck up at night, banish
it.

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jameslk
I was hoping they were open sourcing tools to aid in building AR applications,
too bad.

This is just a tool for marketers essentially. It's actually a rather smart
move for Facebook in competing with Snapchat. Snapchat was building these
camera effects for brands and charging a premium for it. Facebook has taken
this a step further, now allowing brands to build their own effects for
Facebook's platform, thereby taking a bite from one of Snapchat's business
models.

For those complaining about this being a waste of effort, realize that others
use these type of features in camera apps a lot, therefore there's a proven
market for it. Sure, this might not advance society much perhaps, but it makes
plenty of sense business-wise. Direct your anger towards those who like taking
selfies with cat faces.

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apeacox
A promising technology/concept with several potential applications used to
produce ugly/weird effects on dumb videos. This is, IMHO, very depressing.

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Keyframe
I've seen the future and the future is dumb. It's depressing how much energy
is spent on ads and dumb stuff like this. OTOH, I suppose it drives research
into useful but niche stuff. Hopefully.

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mylons
amazing how quickly facebook can copy snap's features, but this seems way more
scalable for facebook -- crowd source all the best AR ideas

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6d6b73
This is sad. How many billions of $ and millions of hours go into stupid sh*t
like that.. Some of you may not know but there are more pressing, more
exciting and more challenging tasks that wait for manpower and resources. Wake
the fuck up people!

~~~
folli
Not everyone can work on projects that change the course of humanity. Some
work is done for just shit and giggles. And who knows what kind of
possibilities these humble beginnings can lead to? There's a lot of potential
in AR and I think this is a good way to introduce consumers and developers to
it.

~~~
6d6b73
It's not about the work, it's about how much resources are dedicated to
entertainment (sports, games, music) when other important fields get virtually
no love.

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suyash
Is this what the brilliant people at Facebook are busy building to make the
world better?

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r3bl
So, is this tied to posting and live broadcasting to Facebook or is it just
there to be used for whatever you want?

Also, which platforms does it run on?

It doesn't seem like an open beta. It seems like a developer beta with the
sole purpose of crowd sourcing the effects before it goes public. And applying
for the beta subscribes you to, what it seems, three different newsletters
from Facebook.

~~~
msie
You can only develop effects for the Facebook camera. Not for your own app. AR
Studio, used to create the effects, runs on MacOS.

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codekilla
wow, fox masks....the killer app for AR, can't wait!!

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guiomie
Lots of people commenting in the lines of "this isn't a breakthrough worth of
a company like facebook or how useful for humanity". I agree this is silly,
but it seems like an easy hedge agains't snapchat, nothing more.

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laughingman2
The pioneers of tech like J. C. R. Licklider had grand vision of making the
internet a human intelligence augmenting super power.

Its sad that the intellectual people in these tech companies only want to use
it to sell personal data by playing on people's emotions.

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septimus111
I think we are going to see a lot of interesting artistic applications of AR.
There is a lot about FB that I don't like but this here is a good thing.

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kelvin0
"one small step for man one giant leap for mankind"

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nkg
Our agency has signed up for the beta. I hope we'll get a chance to play with
this. It's social, fun, shareable, brands love that!

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fuddle
Cool, I was thinking an integrated Fitbit filter would be nice to have on
Snapchat. It looks like FB is making it easier for advanced integrations.

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Findeton
What the hell..

