How Lens Studio Is Leading in World AR Technology

World AR experiences refer to Lenses designed for the outward-facing camera, looking out at the world—in other words, not a selfie experience. And with world mesh technology, the end user can place virtual objects on real-life surfaces. So, in order to create believable, truly immersive experiences, it is critical that world mesh technology can accurately reconstruct a space—like a room, street, or building—in 3D and in real time.

In 2021, Snap AR released the first version of World Mesh in Lens Studio for all devices. However, the technology was limited in its accuracy and precision. Now, as part of Lens Studio version 4.55, we have released World Mesh 2.0, which represents a significant improvement in the accuracy, support, and precision of reconstructed meshes. Our novel approach to increasing mesh accuracy flips the script on why non-LiDAR world mesh wasn’t a developer’s first choice. In doing so, we also increased the number of supported phones with access to high-quality, 3D meshing in real time.

As you can see in the visuals below, the previous technology was much coarser and far less precise—scans were garbled and messy. Now, with the 2.0 technology, the result is much finer, more accurate, and more realistic.

Even Custom Location AR benefits from the new and improved world mesh. Custom Location AR puts the power in developers’ hands to map and create customized location AR experiences. It enables developers to map a specific location, upload it to Lens Studio, and author AR content for that specific site. And with the latest Lens Studio update, Custom Location AR is accessible to more people around the world as the Custom Location Creator Lens is now available for a wider variety of mobile phones! 

We have also introduced a colorized Location Mesh for improved surface understanding of a scanned location within Lens Studio, which makes the feature even more user-friendly for virtual object positioning. Check out the visual below, which shows just how big of a difference there is when using a colorized mesh.

We’re excited to see how this update increases accessibility to more creators, enabling them to build world AR and location-based experiences. We’re invested in not only improving our AR authoring technology, but also democratizing its capabilities and supporting a broader variety of use cases. With World Mesh 2.0, there is no need for special hardware or sensors. Developers get more accuracy and precision—and a more complete picture. In addition to improving the quality of the mesh, we also thought about how to make the creation experience even easier. With better scene understanding, we provide labels in the mesh to help developers create experiences that leverage a wall, floor, ceiling, or seat. 

We hope this update inspires everyone to go create bigger, better, and more immersive AR experiences for Snapchat and beyond!