logo
February 22, 2023
February 22, 2023

Check Out the Winning Lenses
From the Lens Fest Lensathon

Congratulations to our worldwide community of Lens Creators for making the 2022 Build the Future Lensathon our biggest yet! The competition kicked off at Lens Fest, Snap AR’s annual global developer conference, and was followed up by a month of virtual workshops to help participants hone their skills and learn how to harness the power of Lens Studio’s latest capabilities. 

In all, more than 3,000 developers from across the globe competed for $200,000 in prizes, building groundbreaking AR experiences that not only wowed our judges, but captivated Snapchatters around the world. With so much creativity on display, our judging panel had their work cut out for them. After much deliberation, we’re excited to announce the winners of the 2022 Build the Future Lensathon!

First Place

VOXELIZE
by Denis Rossiev


Denis’s $40,000 grand-prize-winning LiDAR Lens, VOXELIZE, is a real-time AR voxel scanner that exports 3D models as .glbs. VOXELIZE’s intuitive two-finger touch gestures can be used to effortlessly scale and rotate the voxel grid for precise resolution selection and alignment with the walls or borders of the target object. A built-in machine-learning model automatically segments objects from the background, streamlining the scanning process. Scans can then be exported as .glbs for editing in any 3D software. VOXELIZE has a broad range of applications across construction, architecture, interior design, and more. Well done, Denis!

Try LensLearn How It Was Made

Second Place

Any Where
by Inna Sparrow & Volodymyr Kurbatov


Inna’s and Volodymyr’s innovative approach to AR fashion takes sneaker culture to the next level. Their Any Where Lens enables you to create, style, and save your own AR footwear as digital collectables. First, channel your inner designer by building your sneakers from the ground up, then show off your kicks by wearing them in AR. The best part? The Lens’s Persistent Storage capability means that once you build a pair of shoes you love, you can save them in your sneaker collection for later and come back to them whenever you want.

Try LensLearn How It Was Made

Third Place

The Mystery of King Tut: An Adventure Through Time
by Farhad Shababi & Faraz Shababi

The Mystery of King Tut: An Adventure Through Time
by Farhad Shababi & Faraz Shababi

Looking for a thrilling adventure? Explore the mystery of King Tut’s tomb with this educational Hand Tracking AR experience! Solve puzzles, uncover secrets, and immerse yourself in ancient Egyptian culture on your way to discovering King Tut’s hidden tomb of treasures. This AR game doesn’t just teach you about the history of Egypt and Egyptian symbols — it also invites you to explore an exact replica of the legendary pharaoh's tomb. Congrats to Farhad and Faraz for making education interactive and fun!

Try Lens Learn How It Was Made

Fourth Place

Table Towers
by Blake Gross & Dustin Kochensparger


Civil engineering meets urban planning with Table Towers, an AR game that invites you to build a futuristic city in your own living room. Choose from 16 different architecture units — ranging from residential to industrial — and build out an elaborate network of interconnected solarpunk skyscrapers linked by whimsical sky bridges. Helicopters, drones, and trains automatically populate as you expand your city, creating a miniature cityscape as big as your imagination.

Try LensLearn How It Was Made

Fifth Place

A Farmer’s Life
by Danny Marree & Max van Leeuwen

Ever wonder what it’s like to run a farm? Now’s your chance with A Farmer’s Life, a persistent augmented farming simulator game. Using time-based elements, weather API data, Persistent Storage, and Hand Tracking, you can seed, water, and harvest your own crops based on environmental conditions in your area like rainfall and sunlight. Be careful, though! Remember to come back to the game during the day to farm and maintain your crops. Once you’ve sold your produce, spend your hard-earned cash on upgrades, so you can become the swankiest farmer in your friend group.

Try LensLearn How It Was Made
View All 30 Winners

Thank you to all of our participants for sharing your passion and ingenuity with Snap AR and the global Snapchat community. If you’re new to Snap AR and feeling inspired by this incredible display of creative problem solving, download Lens Studio and start building your first AR Lens in minutes. And check out our Virtual Lensathon Workshops and Snap AR Forum for expert advice on leveraging all of Lens Studio’s latest capabilities. We can’t wait to see what you create!