Custom Landmarker Lenses allow developers to create a curated AR experience designed around a city’s landmarks, monuments, and popular public spaces, reimagining these locations and enhancing our relationship with them through augmented reality.
“The benefit of Custom Landmarkers is that you can build place-based AR to create an experience that has new context to the local locations you interact with,” says Francis Chen, who developed the House of the Dragon Lens for Los Angeles’ Venice Beach neighborhood.
AR developer Pedro Cormann, from creative studio Vitulo & Co, is part of the team that worked on the Lens for Brazil’s Statue of Princess Isabel in Copacabana. While developing the Lens, they used the technology behind Custom Landmarkers to perform a 3D scan of the statue in order to use the statue’s geometry to interact with the dragon and enhance the Lens animation with a fire-breathing special effect.
“The key is how much we can blend the experience to the environment itself so that it becomes more believable,” says Cormann. “It was a full circle moment to bring a little bit of Westeros to real life.”
Other House of the Dragon Lens locations include the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam by Verticar, Monumento ao Visconde de Mauá in Rio de Janeiro by Vitória Cribb, the Tower Bridge in London by Clara Bacou, Gateway of India in Mumbai by Mohnish Raut and Persica Picardo, NYC’s Pier 16 by MousePack, and Gas Works Park in Seattle by Brielle Garcia.
House of the Dragon fans who live near or are visiting any of the participating locations can find the Lenses as markers within the Snapchat Map all season long. Simply select a dragon available in your location from the HBO Max Profile, aim your camera at the sky, and watch as dragons soar across your screen, breathe fire, and interact with your location’s designated landmark. After the season ends, you can still access and use the Lenses directly from the HBO Max Profile. If there aren’t any dragons near you, check out the official HOTD Dragon Fire Lens to become a dragon yourself!
Share with us if you’ve spotted any dragons in the wild and be sure to keep an eye out for more — they could be flying to your city next!