Ray Tracing and Multi-User Collaboration Headline Lens Studio Release

With the release of Lens Studio 4.40, Snap is the first company to bring real-time Ray Tracing capabilities on mobile at scale, across Android and iOS. Snap is the first company to bring real-time Ray Tracing capabilities to mobile at scale, across Android and iOS. This is the first time Ray Tracing has been offered as a real-time capability for mobile experiences, and we’re thrilled to see what our community creates with this technology. Along with Ray Tracing, we’re excited to introduce support for Version Control for better project collaboration and a new Learn Tab within Lens Studio to better surface new learning opportunities.

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Add Realism to Your Lenses With Ray Tracing

Ray Tracing simulates how light behaves in the real world. The first Ray Tracing feature Snap AR has launched is called Ray Traced Reflections, which makes it possible for AR objects to reflect the real-world environment onto digital objects and surfaces. Ray Tracing is typically employed in the most advanced offline applications, like console games. Now, creators can render AR jewelry, sleek sports cars, clothing, and so much more to achieve ultra-realistic quality.

Check out these examples to see how Ray Tracing gives virtual objects added dimension by reflecting the real-world environment onto their surfaces.

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Using this technique, developers can make virtual rays of light bounce off of virtual objects in their Lens to create lifelike reflections based on the real world. Start incorporating Ray Tracing into your Lenses today with our easy-to-use Reflections Template. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out how Tiffany & Co. is already harnessing the power of Ray Tracing to create photorealistic 3D product visualizations.

Make Collaboration Effortless With Version Control

Project collaboration in Lens Studio just got a whole lot easier. With better support for Version Control, you and your teammates can now collaborate simultaneously on new or existing Lens Studio projects while maintaining the integrity of your source code. This update is especially critical for developers, designers, and creators who work on large projects with multiple people. Instead of inefficient workflows that require creators to manually send files, code, and assets to one another, changes can simply be diffed and merged — saving hours of needless busywork. That means you spend less time on logistics and more time on development.

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Level up Your Skills With a New Learn Tab, UI Hints, and Templates

Lens Studio’s start screen now has a dedicated Learn Tab that offers educational materials like videos and guides to help developers better learn how to build Lenses. By seamlessly introducing new learning opportunities directly to Lens Studio, you’re equipped with the know-how to build sophisticated Lenses using our latest capabilities. The Lens production team has released more than 40 assets in a brand new category in the Asset Library, which are visually animated images, not text based. UI Hints include the most commonly needed gestures, like show your foot, show your wrist, swap camera, look for pet, scan room, try with a friend, etc. These hints offer an intuitive, predictable way for Snapchatters to unlock a Lens experience. UI hints were created by Snapchat’s Lens Production team and incorporate our own learnings from Snapchat-developed Lenses. Additionally, we’re introducing a new collection of templates, including Gravity Gun created by MousePack AR Studio and Sync Framework — Voting to accelerate and streamline your Lens creation process.

Download the latest version of Lens Studio to start learning!