Minna Saalasti

and how celebrities and game companies use them to interact with fans

Many of us remember Pokemon Go and kids walking in parks with their phones, catching pokemons. For me it was the first experience of Augmented reality (AR). It was published roughly 5 years ago and since then, AR technology has gained major popularity. The idea of AR is to combine virtual element, for example a 3D object or effect into real world commonly through a mobile phone’s camera. The object or effect can interact with face, surface and background. Around the same time with Pokemon Go, Snapchat was first to publish AR effects for selfies and after a while Meta followed the trend in 2017. I’ve never used Snapchat, so I’m focusing on Meta’s own AR software Spark AR Studio. Snapchat has own AR creator software called Snap AR Lens Studio.

AR filter types

Usage of filters in IG stories has been rising steadily. At first, they were kinda funny joke, but nowadays some people use them to be funny on purpose. We’ve also seen those funny viral videos of serious Teams meetings with accidental kitten filters… Stigma of “being fake” has faded away, because we’re so used to manipulated photos. Currently I’m seeing on stories these popular filter types: light leaks, film camera aesthetics, tattooed face, glitter and color overlays. These can be categorized as beautifying filters. A while ago randomiser filters were really popular, but now they are over used and boring.

Searching new filters for this blog post led to discovering filter games. Pixar has a filter of Buzz Lightyear flying in space, with possibility to control the character with your head movements. Every time Buzz catches the green little guy, you earn points. Funny eh? I played it 5 times until got bored. Another discovery was National geographics’ informational filters. In this example a historical creature can be placed on a surface and at same time  reader tells a story about it.

AR filters are here to stay

—Tom Martin-Davies

Brands, games and celebrities interacting with fans

My first experience of seeing a filter from a known musical artist was Björk and her magnificent mask artist James Merry. Björk uses real hand made masks on her performances and while they are out of reach for us, we can still try them on through her IG profile’s filters. I’m in love with the very extraordinary style, the combination of sci-fi and natural elements. They blur line between what can be real and what’s just an unreal filter on a mobile device. When I try on her filter, I can see myself as her for a moment and there’s this scary parasocial interaction (thanks S-M for the word) moment, a feeling that I know her personally.

Some game characters were also made to filters, for example It Takes Two by EA games and Hazelight Studios. The two main characters May and Cody have funny hair styles and anyone can try them as a filter. Most brand/celebrity/game-accounts have 1-4 filters.

AR filter creators

Instagram has also AR filter artists and it’s a whole new profession. They’re usually not targeting to get fans for themselves, but instead using their profiles to find potential customers who would buy filters from them. I found many of them through @sparkarcreators profile and with same hashtag. I don’t know personally anyone who has created a filter, so this a new thing to learn for me.

Filter creation workflow

I started with downloading Spark AR Studio software and watched some Youtube videos to make the first one. It took me about one hour to figure it out with the help of in-program tips. Face-tracking is made way too easy, just one simple click. My goal here was to create a 3D model for the filter, so I had hard time with making up the idea. I couldn’t figure out anything related to MCP, so I’m hoping the process and research here is enough. I wanted the filter to be something fantasy-like, unreal but possibly real, fit for any gender and not too complicated. Inspiration landed while watching True Detective season 1, where the murdered woman wears a crown of horns. It reminded me of the times I used to model for my photographer friend @narikkaphoto, as the photo shoot setting usually was very similar. Me playing a corpse-shaman-witch-queen with deer horns, animal furs and jewellery.

For the 3D model, I downloaded a face mesh template. It helped with creating the model in a perfect scale and placement. After adding the materials to the model, I deleted face mesh and exported the project as .dae-file. Other file types can be used too.

In Spark AR Studio I created new blank project where I began with adding a face-tracker and face mesh. Importing the .dae file with couple clicks and it was about the right. You can use web cam to see in real-time how to adjust the filter to face. I placed it just a little bit more front from center point, so the pendant would look nice. Then turned down opacity of face mesh to 0, to hide it. My FB/IG account was already connected, so I first privately tested it with my phone and recorded a preview video for publishing. Publishing from the software was pretty straightforward. Creating a name, adding a thumbnail photo, preview video and where to publish. I chose both FB and IG. After this, the filter must be accepted by Meta and when it’s ready then it will be public to everyone. My IG profile has a new tab with stars, that’s the location for user-based filters.

After posting stories and sharing other’s stories with the filter, I went to see analytics from Spark AR hub. It’s a site inside FB to manage the filters and portfolio, check out what others have created and to find out about competitions. At the moment there is a seasonal competition about creating a filter including certain assets. Prizes are awarded by two ways, first by ratio of opens and shares and secondly chosen by the panel of judges. Winner of panel’s choice gets 50 000$. I can understand why so many people are learning to make them. I’m already silently planning new filters to create when I have time.