
`youtube:bGtEHdZoOEc`

> At the time of writing I'm using Lens Studio 4.34, Meta Spark v151, and Effect House 1.18.1.

The great thing about augmented reality (AR) is that it combines lots of different disciplines into one. The bad thing about AR is that it combines lots of different disciplines into one. You'll find 3D graphics, 2D graphics, programming, design, and machine learning all coming together to create awesome experiences. But most people aren't experts in all those fields. This guide will specifically address the 3D portion of AR. I'll walk you through all the concepts you need to know so that you'll have a foundation to build upon and keep learning 3D graphics. If you are already an experienced 3D artist, you may still find this guide useful because it will cover some of the nuances of preparing 3D assets for AR.

> I will be using Blender as my 3D software of choice, but this is NOT a Blender tutorial. I will show what I am doing in the software so that you can then lookup tutorials for any knowledge gaps you have or find corresponding tutorials for your 3D software of choice.

> My focus for AR is on social AR for Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. The principles I cover here will also apply to WebAR or custom AR apps, but I will be going over limitations and requirements of the specific social AR platforms.

The guidelines I share here will be a mix of information from the various platforms themselves along with some things I learned along the way. As you prepare your 3D assets, please refer to the guides for the platform you are building for in case things have changed since I wrote this guide. In general 3D asset creation is the same for all the platforms but they differ in some details. I'll try to note this when possible. Here are the platform-specific guides:

- [Lens Studio (Snapchat)](https://docs.snap.com/lens-studio/references/guides/adding-content/3d/exporting-content/overview)
- [Effect House (TikTok)](https://effecthouse.tiktok.com/learn/guides/3d/3d-asset-preparation/)
- [Meta Spark (Instagram/Facebook)](https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/learn/articles/creating-and-prepping-assets/creating-3D-objects-for-spark-ar-studio)

## The 3D mesh

Let's start with the mesh. Maybe you are going to model or sculpt it yourself, or maybe you'll downloaded a model from somewhere like [TurboSquid](https://www.turbosquid.com/) or [SketchFab](https://sketchfab.com/). Here are a few things to keep in mind.

### Triangle Count

A 3D mesh consists of various polygons connected together - each point of the polygon is a vertex. Usually these are quads or triangles. Each platform lists their limits in triangle count, so that is the value we are going to use here. Lens Studio has a soft limit of 100k triangles, but they recommend no more than 60k if the object is animated (and only 3k for cloth simulation). Meta Spark recommends 50k per object with 150k total per effect, and Effect House is the lowest at 20k triangles per model and 60k total per effect. That's all a bunch of very dry information, but essentially you want to keep things as low-poly as reasonably possible.

If you sculpted some awesome 3D character in Zbrush, you are going to have to do some retopologizing to get that poly count low enough. If you are downloading a character from TurboSquid, take a look at the poly count; if it is too high you'll have to do some tweaking to make it all fit. Creating assets for AR is much more similar to creating game-ready assets than it is to creating assets for film or TV.

If you are having trouble getting your poly count low enough, you can try baking a high poly mesh onto a low poly mesh to create a normal map and preserve some of that detail. But also remember that people are viewing these effects on a phone screen. If you have an intricate headdress or hat, the poly count is usually sufficient to preserve all that detail, especially if paired with a normal map. If you are creating a full body effect, remember that the user will be standing away from the screen and that the final image or video will be max full HD resolution - Snapchat, IG, and TikTok are not recording at 4K so you can get away with less detail than you might think.

### Formats

If you stick with obj, fbx, and gltf you will be good to go. If your object has any animations, don't use obj because that format doesn't support animated meshes. I usually stick with fbx.

### Modifiers

This tip may be Blender specific, but the lesson holds for users of any 3D software. One technique for creating face filters is to add blendshapes/shapekeys/morphkeys to a mesh. So what you do is you take your base mesh and create a shapekey (called Basis in Blender). Then you can create a new shapekey, give it a name, then adjust individual vertices. The main use case is to allow the user to animate a 3D face; I might have shapekeys for an open mouth, raised eyebrows, etc. So why is this under the modifiers section? In Blender we have the subdivision surface modifier. This smooths the geometry by adding subdivisions and is fairly common to add. The problem with this is that you cannot export shapekeys with the subdivision surface modifier. The fbx export will work, but the shapekeys will not be included. You might say to just apply the modifier and then export, but Blender doesn't let you apply this modifier if there are shapekeys (or blendshapes, I forget what Blender calls them). So if you want to create the shapekeys, you first need to apply the subdivision surface modifier. If you find yourself in this situation there is a [process you can follow here](https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/56795/script-outdated-shape-keys-and-applying-subdivision-surface-modifier/209214#209214) or you can check out this [addon](https://blendermarket.com/products/skkeeper), although I have not personally tried it and I don't know if it still works with Blender 3.X.

The moral of this story is to do simple, minimal tests of any feature you haven't used yet to iron out the wrinkles. It is no fun to create 50 shapekeys on a mesh only to find out you can't export them because you have a subdivision surface modifier on the mesh.

## Animating

### Rigging

Rigging is the process of giving your 3D model an armature, or "skeleton," so that it can be animated. Each vertex (individual point) in your mesh is then assigned a weight for each bone in the armature. The weight determines how much that vertex is affect by the bone. For example, let's say we have a 3D cat. The armature will roughly resemble an actual cat skeleton with bones for the head, neck, spine, legs, and tail. The vertices in the tail portion will have high weights for the tail bones and empty weights for the head bone. We don't want the motion of the tail to be tied directly to the motion of the head.

Lens Studio does not have a limit on the number of bones a model can have, but each vertex can only be influenced by four bones simultaneously. If there are more than four bones influencing a vertex, the model will still import but some of those weights will be dropped which can result in unexpected motion. Meta Spark has the same bone limits as Lens Studio. Effect House has the same four-bone-per-vertex limit, but it has the additional limitation of no more than 50 bones per model.

### Creating the animation

Both Lens Studio and Effect House recommend using a framerate of 30 fps for any animated model, but Meta Spark (for whatever reason) recommends 24 fps. Stick with bone animations (rotation, position, and scale are all fine) and try to avoid directly animating objects.

If you are not good at animating and just need something simple, you can use [Mixamo](https://www.mixamo.com/#/) to animate humanoid characters using a mocap library. It also has the benefit of rigging your character for you, but I think you might need to remove some bones to meet the 50 bone limit of Effect House. But that's still a lot easier than animating something yourself.

## UV Map

Before we can texture our model and make it look nice, we need to give it a UV map. A UV map defines how the three dimensional surface of your model maps to a two dimensional image. That mapping is how an image will be displayed on your mesh. If you downloaded a 3D object from the internet, there's a good chance it already has a UV map. If you created the model yourself, you'll have to create one. Your 3D software probably has some form of automatic UV unwrapping. If you need more control over the map, you'll need to define where the various faces of your model can be split by creating seams.

As we'll see later, there are pretty strict resolution limits on the textures we can use, so you might be wondering if you can use UDIM tiles. Unfortunately you cannot. Your model can have but a single UV tile.

## Texturing

Now it's time to make our model look awesome by giving it some textures! Texturing is the process of using several different image maps to define how our model should look. I'll go over the types of textures and some limitations, but be sure to check out the texturing guide for each platform you are interested in:

- [Lens Studio texturing](https://docs.snap.com/lens-studio/references/guides/adding-content/3d/texturing/photoshop-texturing)
- [Effect House texturing](https://effecthouse.tiktok.com/learn/guides/textures-and-materials/standard-pbr/)
- [Meta Spark texturing](https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/learn/tutorials/working-with-textures-and-materials)

Now we could skip using image textures and just use solid colors. That does work and might be what you want depending on the filter you are creating, but image textures can really take your creation to the next level.

### Add a material

Now before we can add image textures to our model it needs at least one material. You can assign multiple materials to your model and have them assigned to different parts of the mesh, but make sure you have at least one material to start.

### Texture types

Each of the social AR platforms follows a PBR channel packing schema for their materials, but they each pack channels differently. We'll go over the base maps here and then go over how they pack them together. For each texture type I'll be including a sample image of ["Painted Metal 02"](https://www.cgbookcase.com/textures/painted-metal-02) from cgbookcase, an excellent resource for textures.

#### Diffuse

The diffuse texture, also known as albedo, is the colors on our model, typically without any lighting applied.

![An example diffuse texture](/images/guides/3d-for-ar/diffuse.jpg)

#### Normal

A normal map defines which direction that part of the mesh is facing. Now the mesh itself is already facing different directions, so the normal map is a great way to add extra detail without needing to have a super high detailed mesh.

Normal maps can come in two formats, DirectX and OpenGL. Lens Studio specifically requests OpenGL, but there's no documentation that I'm aware of for what Meta Spark and Effect House need, but I would guess OpenGL. The difference between the two formats is the green channel is inverted, so if you add a normal map to your model and the bumps/depressions are inverted, you'll just need to invert the green channel on your normal map. You can read more about this [here](https://www.texturecan.com/post/3/DirectX-vs-OpenGL-Normal-Map/).

![An example normal map](/images/guides/3d-for-ar/normal.jpg)

#### Ambient Occlusion

Ambient occlusion simulates soft shadows that result from two parts of a mesh being close to each other. It helps make your 3D object look a bit more realistic. This is just a greyscale image.

![An example ambient occlusion map](/images/guides/3d-for-ar/ao.jpg)

#### Roughness

The roughness map defines which portions of your mesh are smooth and shiney vs "rough" or matte. It is a greyscale image.

![An example roughness map](/images/guides/3d-for-ar/rough.jpg)

#### Metalness

The metalness map defines how metallic your mesh is. Metallic surfaces are reflective while non-metallic surfaces are not. This is a greyscale image.

![An example metalness map](/images/guides/3d-for-ar/metal.jpg)

#### Channel packing

All three packages - Lens Studio, Meta Spark, and Effect House - accept diffuse and normal textures. However, they take the ambient occlusion, roughness, and metalness maps and pack them into a single image. They do this because those maps are each greyscale so they can occupy a single channel each of a red-green-blue (RGB) image. If you are using Substance Painter, it has presets for both Lens Studio (which will also work for Effect House) and Meta Spark and will produce the packed textures automatically. If you have the greyscale maps, I like to use this [Combine RGB channel images tool](http://flaticon.sodhanalibrary.com/combine-rgb-chanels-online.html) to create my packed maps.

Lens Studio packs these three into a "Material Params" texture with metallic on red, roughness on green, and ambient occlusion on blue. Effect House follows the same schema but calls these "MRAO" textures.

![An example material params or MRAO map](/images/guides/3d-for-ar/material-params.jpg)

Meta Spark packs these into "ORM" textures with ambient occlusion on red, roughness on green, and metallic on blue.

![An example ORM map](/images/guides/3d-for-ar/orm.jpg)

#### Opacity

Some AR software supports separate greyscale opacity maps, but you can also use PNG images with transparency in them. It mainly comes down to preference and file size/resolution.

### Creating the textures

There are several ways to texture a 3D object. If you are routinely modeling and texturing 3D objects, you may already be using a tool such as Substance Painter which allows you to paint directly on a 3D mesh. If not, your 3D software may have some built-in texture painting capabilities. Another route may be to create procedural textures inside your 3D software using material nodes or some equivalent. Keep in mind that these materials cannot be directly exported - you first need to bake the material to image textures.

### Texture resolution

Lens Studio supports up to 2k (2048x2048 pixel) resolution textures. Meta Spark and Effect House are both capped at 1k textures. If you need more resolution, you can tile your texture (if it is tileable), or you can assign different portions of your 3D model to different materials. You are limited to just the single UV tile, but you can overlap portions of your UV map if the overlapping portions belong to different materials. It makes your UV map a bit messy, but it is a possibility.

> Remember, people are using your filters on mobile phones - they are not rendering out 4k images and videos.

Lens Studio and Meta Spark support non-square images, but Effect House requires square images with a power of two resolution (256x256, 512x512, etc).

### Image formats

All three software packages accept both JPG and PNG images. Unless your image has transparency or you can't sacrifice any image quality, I would stick with JPG. Both Lens Studio and Meta Spark have some built-in image compression, but it's kinda slow. I personally prefer to use [Crushee](https://crushee.app/) to do some preliminary image compression/optimization before importing my images.

Lens Studio has an overall 8 MB limit (increased to 25 MB with remote assets) per lens, Meta Spark is at 4 MB, and Effect House is at 5 MB with a 1 MB limit on individual images.

## Importing

> When you import your 3D models, double check the base color of each material. Unless you want to add a tint or reduce the vibrancy, you'll want to make sure the base color is white. I often forget to change that when exporting from Blender and end up with a light grey for my base color.

### Import into Lens Studio

We add 3D models to Lens Studio via the Resources Panel. You'll see a new object in there with an "F" icon. If you expand that you should see some folders for meshes, animations, and materials and then a "P" icon. That "P" icon is what you then drag up to the Objects Panel to add to your scene.

If your model looks untextured, you may need to import your image textures separately. All you need to do is import them via the Resources Panel, find the material(s) for your model, then assign them to the proper channels.

[Here's more information about importing 3D models to Lens Studio.](https://docs.snap.com/lens-studio/references/guides/adding-content/3d/importing-content/fbx-3d-object-import#adding-the-fbx-object)

### Import into Effect House

We add 3D models to Effect House via the Assets Panel. This will create a folder for your object with its accompanying materials and textures. If the image textures weren't automatically imported, all you need to do is import those separately. To add your model to the scene, find the asset with the same name as your model and the box icon. Drag that into the scene hierarchy and you are good to go!

[Here's more informatino about importing 3D models to Effect House.](https://effecthouse.tiktok.com/learn/guides/3d/3d-asset-preparation/)

### Import into Meta Spark

We add 3D models to Meta Spark via the Assets Panel. This will create a folder for your object with its accompanying materials and textures. If the image textures weren't automatically imported, all you need to do is import those separately. To add your model to the scene, open up that folder and drag the object with the box icon to the Scene Panel.

[Here's more information about importing 3D models to Meta Spark.](https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/learn/articles/3D/3D-objects)

## Procedural materials

We talked about image textures, but in Lens Studio and Meta Spark you can create procedural textures. In Lens Studio you have a dedicated [material editor](https://docs.snap.com/lens-studio/references/guides/lens-features/graphics/materials/material-editor/introduction-and-concepts) and in Meta Spark you can do some pretty neat stuff with the [Patch Editor](https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/learn/patch-editor#Creating-patches) to do some image manipulation. On top of that, both programs support some flavor of GLSL. I have tutorials on [converting from Shadertoy to Lens Studio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CdKj_kqieY) and [converting from Shadertoy to Meta Spark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uNhzkUSPH8).


How do you get your 3D models into AR filters? Whether you are a beginner or an experienced 3D artist, this guide will show you the ins and outs of getting your 3D models into Lens Studio, Effect House, and Meta Spark Studio

Getting started with 3D graphics for augmented reality


Lot's of AR filters add grain to the final effect, but to do that you need to first have some sort of grain images or video to add.

## Getting the images

Film grain comes in two versions - static images or video. Video works, but you'll need to trim it down and make sure you export it in a format that's compatible with the software you are using for your AR (Spark AR, Lens Studio, etc), so we are going to stick with images.

There is a [nice little pack of film grain textures on Behance](https://www.behance.net/gallery/59398743/Film-Grain-Textures-FREE-PACK) that is free to download and use. Film Composite is another source for film grain and they [have an entire section of free grain images and videos](https://www.filmcomposite.com/free-film-assets). Or you can look for other sources of film grain. Do not, however, just do a Google search and download whatever looks good. You won't go to jail or anything, but you'll most likely be violating someone's copyright and that is not good. If you are making a filter for a client, you definitely should not do that. Find a free resource or pay for one, but don't blindly download.

## Edit the images

Lots of the grain images you'll find are going to be too high resolution. Open up your favorite image editor (Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, etc) and create a new image. Go with something like 1440x2560, 1080x1920, or 720x1280. For a single, static grain image, 1440x2560 is fine, but if you want dynamic grain, I wouldn't go above 720x1280 because you'll start to run into file size limit issues. If you are going with a single image, just load in your image and export it as a JPG file. If you want to use multiple images for moving grain, let's keep going.

Since the grain images are hopefully a higher resolution than our desired final image, we can use a small number of images to produce a large number of frames for the grain animation. What do I mean by this? Let's say you have 6 different grain images, each on a different layer. Take a layer, duplicate it, and then move it so that a different part of the image is visible in the frame. Repeat this as many times as you want for as many layers as you want. If I do this 2 times for all 6 of my original layers, I'll now have 18 different frames for my grain (the original plus 2 copies for each of my 6 layers). Even if you have just one grain image, you can still apply this same technique. Duplicate your layer and move and flip it so that each frame looks different.

Now that you have multiple layers of grain, each layer looking different, it's time to export. The process is different for each graphics program, so I'll leave that up to you to do. Here's a [guide for doing it in Photoshop](https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/export-artboards-layers.html), [in Affinity Photo](https://affinity.help/designer/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/ExportPersona/exportPersona.html?title=Exporting%20using%20Export%20Persona), and [in GIMP](https://khalim19.github.io/gimp-plugin-export-layers/).

## Import into your AR software

Now that you have multiple frames of grain, all that's left is importing them as an image sequence into your software of choice.

### Importing into Lens Studio

For Lens Studio you can follow the below tutorial, but instead of just importing an image, make sure you [import your frames as an image sequence](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/2d/2d-animation/) and use that for the grain texture.

`youtube:TABYa8KUDQU`

### Importing into Spark AR

The following video goes over how to import grain into Spark AR.

`youtube:JzY7G6zNbRE`


So you want to add grain to your filter but don't know where to find some? We've got you covered.

Finding grain textures


## Where to start

I remember feeling so overwhelmed when I started learning 3D graphics. From choosing the software to modeling, texturing, rigging, animating, and lighting, there are so many things to learn. I'm no 3D expert, but I know enough to be dangerous. Here are my tips and recommendations for getting started in 3D with an emphasis on designing for augmented reality. This guide is by no means comprehensive, but it serves as a good starting-out point.

## The software

The best 3D software will be the software you have access to. My personal pick is [Blender](https://www.blender.org/). It is open source and completely free to use. Is it any good? It sure is! It is starting to [make its way into feature film production](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZn3kCsw5D8). That might not matter too much to you if you want to make better AR experiences, but the Blender community is also super helpful and tons of creators are making awesome tutorials.

While I personally like Blender, it isn't your only option. There are several paid options, but if you are a student you may be able to get a copy at a discount. [Cinema 4D](https://www.maxon.net/en-us/) seems to be fairly popular, as do [Maya](https://www.autodesk.com/products/maya/overview) and [3DS Max](https://www.autodesk.com/products/3ds-max/overview). Whatever option you go with, DO NOT PIRATE SOFTWARE. If you don't have the money, stick with Blender. Once you learn the principles of 3D graphics, it won't be too hard to switch to another platform.

## Learning the basics

Once you have the software, you need to learn it! If you are just getting started in Blender, I recommend the [donut tutorial by Blender Guru](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjEaoINr3zgEq0u2MzVgAaHEBt--xLB6U). If you aren't using Blender, just find a course or playlist applicable to your software of choice.

`youtube:NyJWoyVx_XI`

Some topics that I recommend learning are:

- **_Modeling_** - Simply put, this is creating 3D objects. It doesn't matter if you model with shapes and polygons or go with the sculpting route. However, no matter how you create your models, you need to make sure they aren't too complex. Most AR is experienced through mobile phones, and not everyone has the most high-end device. After you get the hang of modeling, start looking into video game asset optimization. A lot of the same principles will apply to making AR-ready models.
- **_Texturing_** - Make your models look nice! This can be as simple as creating a material, applying an image texture, or using something like [Substance Painter](https://www.substance3d.com/products/substance-painter/) to draw in all the detail. For AR, you'll want to stick with 2k resolution (2048x2048) and below (lots of the AR creation tools limit you to 2k anyway). Depending on how many textures you have, you may need to go all the way down to 256x256 depending on where the texture is used. Also, try to stick with JPG vs PNG images. JPG images can have compression artifacts, but the file size difference is huge.
- **_Rigging_** - If your model needs to move, it needs to be rigged. Rigging is the process of adding a virtual skeleton to your model.
- **_Animating_** - Making it move! Once you have your model rigged, you are now ready to animate it! If rigging and animating aren't your thing, check out [Mixamo](https://www.mixamo.com/#/). With Mixamo, you upload your humanoid model and it does the rest! Mixamo will create the rig and then you can choose an animation. None of the animations are super complex, but they often are perfect for AR experiences. I'm personally not great at rigging and animating, so I turn to Mixamo fairly often for my Snapchat and Instagram filters.
- **_Lighting_** - Bring it all together. The final lighting will be setup in your AR creation software (Lens Studio, Spark AR, etc), but it's nice to setup some lighting while creating your 3D asset so you can see how it looks. This step is mostly about making your model look as good as it can.

## Helpful resources

You don't have to do everything yourself. There are lots of existing resources to help you get started in 3D. It's definitely good to at least be familiar with each step of the process, but sometimes you might lack the experience or the time. Not great at modeling? No problem, you can download a 3D model. Not great at animating? No problem either (depending on the animation that is). Here are a few resources to help you get started.

### Modeling resources

- [Turbosquid](https://www.turbosquid.com/) has a lot of 3D models that are either free to download or are paid. Make sure you check the license on the model to make sure you can use it for your use case. Also, hi-poly models might need a little work to make them AR-ready, just something to be mindful of.
- [Sketchfab](https://sketchfab.com/) also has a ton of great models available for download/purchase. As with Turbosquid, make sure you check the license and complexity of the model.

### Texturing resources

- [Textures.com](https://www.textures.com/) has a ton of great textures. High resolution images are available for purchase, but the low resolution images are free. The great thing about AR is that you'll be wanting the low resolution images anyway to keep file sizes down.
- [Texture Haven](https://texturehaven.com/) is a collection of 100% free, tileable textures.
- [cgbookcase](https://www.cgbookcase.com/textures/) has another great collection of free textures.

### Rigging and animating resources

- [Mixamo](https://www.mixamo.com/#/) is probably the go-to. If you have ever used a Snapchat lens or Instagram filter, chances are you've come across an effect that used an animation from Mixamo. It takes care of the rigging and animation for you.

### Lighting resources

- [HDRI Haven](https://hdrihaven.com/) is the place to go for HDRI images. An HDRI is an environment map that lights your model. Both Lens Studio and Spark AR have some built-in environment maps, but it's always helpful to load one into your 3D software to see how your model is looking.
- [Lighting Mastery Course](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys4793edotw) by Blender Guru does a pretty good job of demonstrating and explaining various aspects of lighting a 3D model or scene.

## Final thoughts

There is a ton to learn when it comes to 3D graphics, but hopefully this guide helps serve as a starting point. When it comes to AR, the main considerations are model complexity (keep it simple), file sizes (don't use too high resolution textures), and enjoyability (is it something people want to watch/experience). While you are going through tutorials, also watch out for things that are too specific to your software package. Remember, everything needs to be exported and then loaded into the AR creation software, and not everything is compatible with the export/import process. This will come down to the specifics of your 3D software and probably some trial and error as you are learning.

Always remember to stick with it! It will get frustrating at times, but the experiences you'll be able to create by incorporating 3D elements will be so much more immersive. You can also create some pretty cool effects with really simple 3D elements, so there's no need to wait until you feel you are proficient with the software. Just jump in there and get started! Happy learning!


You can get started in AR without any experience with 3D design. However, 3D objects and effects can take your AR experiences to the next level. Here are a few tips and resources to help get you started!

Getting started in 3D for AR


To create augmented reality (AR) experiences, you are going to need some software! This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is a good resource for starting out and finding some suggestions.

## Augmented reality

Let's start with the most obvious, the AR creation software! This is where you are going to have the least amount of choice because each platform has its own software.

### Social AR

Social AR refers to AR embedded within a social media app. The big players here are Snapchat and Instagram, although you can also build for Facebook/Messenger. TikTok also has some AR creation software, but it is not widely available yet. If you are getting started in AR, I recommend starting here because it is both easy and free. Most WebAR and integrated solutions require money and/or more technical knowledge, so Social AR is a good way to test the waters before jumping in too deep.

- **_Lens Studio_** - Want to build AR experiences for Snapchat? Lens Studio has you covered! Lens Studio is developed internally by Snapchat and may just be the most full-featured AR software out there. You can build something as simple as putting freckles on someone's cheeks all the way up to an [AI powered game of bingo](https://www.snapchat.com/unlock/?type=SNAPCODE&uuid=5e432fc7161d483aa833294bcb6dfa25&metadata=01). You can [download Lens Studio here](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/download/) for either Windows or Mac. Make sure you check the system requirements; you don't need a high-end computer to run Lens Studio, but the better your computer, the better Lens Studio will run.

- **_Spark AR Studio_** - Also referred to as just Spark AR, this is Facebook's software for creating AR experiences for Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger. It is not nearly as powerful as Lens Studio and they have more restrictions as far as what you can submit. For the most part a filter built for Instagram will also work on Facebook/Messenger and vice versa, but there are a few features that don't work between platforms. You also can't upload your filter to all three platforms simultaneously. You'll have to upload to Instagram and to Facebook/Messenger separately. Why? I'm not quite sure. You can [download Spark AR here](https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/download/) for Mac or Windows. Just as with Lens Studio, the better your computer, the better Spark AR will run.

### WebAR

WebAR uses a mobile web browser for the AR experience rather than a standalone app. The pros to this approach are reach because no app download is required, and integration with your website. You can run the AR experience directly on your site so it is easier to integrate calls-to-action and also way faster to update due to the lack of a review process (as there is with Social AR). A big downside is performance though because web browsers don't have the same access to the device as do native apps.

- **_8th Wall_** - [The 8th Wall](https://www.8thwall.com/) is pretty good as far as WebAR goes. They have face tracking, image tracking, and floor tracking - all very necessary features for AR. However, whereas both Lens Studio and Spark AR are free to use, 8th Wall is not. It does come with a 14 day free trial, but it appears to be more suited towards agencies or large companies. If you are just a hobbyist the pricing is pretty prohibitive. But if you need to create a browser based AR experience, they are a great choice.

- **_Zappar_** - [Zappar through Zapworks](https://zap.works/webar/) is another choice for WebAR, although they also provide the ability to integrate AR directly into your own app. Starting out they do seem more affordable than 8th Wall, but I'm not sure how the pricing scales up. Definitely worth checking out though.

- **_Open Source_** - Don't want to pay for WebAR? It does become a little more tricky. There is not yet an all-in-one solution, so you'll have to pick and choose depending on what you want to do. For image tracking you can checkout [AR.js](https://ar-js-org.github.io/AR.js-Docs/) and for face tracking you can try [Jeeliz](https://jeeliz.com/). I've yet to find a good object for floor tracking, but it is on the roadmap for AR.js.

### App integration

Maybe you have your own app and you want to integrate an AR experience in there? There are a few different options to check out.

- **_Zappar_** - [Zappar through Zapworks](https://zap.works/) already got a mention for WebAR, but they also provide an SDK to add AR directly to your own app.

- **_Vuforia_** - [Vuforia](https://developer.vuforia.com/) is another set of tools for adding AR to your app. They support Unity, iOS, Android, and UWP. Once again it does cost money, but they do offer free developer licenses for trying it out first.

- **_Unity_** - Unity is a game engine, but they are also getting into augmented reality. You can build an augmented reality app purely in Unity, or [they also allow you to use Unity as a library](https://blogs.unity3d.com/2020/09/16/add-unity-powered-features-to-your-app-using-unity-as-a-library/) to add AR to your own app.

- **_Unreal_** - Unreal is another game engine providing AR capabilities. You can [definitely build an AR app with Unreal](https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Platforms/AR/HandheldAR/AROverview/index.html), but I'm not sure if you can integrate that with your own app yet.

- **_Snapchat Camera Kit_** - A new offering is [Camera Kit by Snapchat](https://kit.snapchat.com/camera-kit). Basically Snapchat lets you use their camera software in your app which means you can also load in Snapchat lenses. You have to request access, but Snapchat's AR tech is some of the best out there. Definitely worth a look.

## 3D creation

Okay, so you've got your AR software of choice, but you still need something with which to augment reality. If you are already a 3D designer, you probably have your software of choice. If not, we have [a whole page](/general/getting-started-3d) with some tips for getting started in 3D.

## 2D creation

Besides 3D objects, you'll also need some 2D assets for face masks, buttons, etc. Here are a few options for you to take a look at.

### Raster graphics

Raster graphics are what you are probably most familiar with. Simply put, they are images consisting of pixels - think photographs. Since there is a set number of pixels, you can easily decrease the image size, but increasing the image size will make it blocky/blurry. Here are a few options:

- **_Photoshop_** - [Photoshop](https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html) is probably the best known image editor - it's become its own verb after all! You can get it for as low as about $10 a month. Some people don't like the subscription model, but Photoshop is an industry standard and price-wise actually isn't too bad. If you are just getting started, $10 a month is a lot more reasonable than a one time payment of several hundred dollars.

- **_Lightroom_** - [Lightroom](https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom.html) is more for photo editing, but you can use your presets (or create new ones) to add color grades to your AR filters. I think you get Lightroom included when you get a Photoshop subscription, so it's worth learning if you ever want to apply color effects.

- **_Affinity Photo_** - [Affinity Photo](https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/) is a pretty good alternative to Photoshop. I don't believe it is quite as full-featured, but it is still extremely powerful and probably more than adequate for preparing images for augmented reality. It is a one-time purchase of about \$50, so very affordable.

- **_GIMP_** - If you are looking for a no-cost editor, [GIMP](https://www.gimp.org/) is your go-to. It is pretty similar to Photoshop in terms of functionality and is powerful in its own right.

- **_Krita_** - [Krita](https://krita.org/en/) is geared more towards painting and drawing than image editing, but if that's your thing, I'd definitely check it out. Like GIMP, it is also free to download and use.

- **_Photopea_** - [Photopea](https://www.photopea.com) is a free, online Photoshop alternative. It doesn't have quite as many features as Photoshop, but it is still quite capable and can do more than you might expect from a free online tool.

### Vector graphics

Vector graphics are representations of shapes rather than a group of pixels. What this means is that you can view the image at any size and it will never get blocky or blurry. You will probably still have to export your vector images as raster images though, but you'll have the ability to choose your resolution. I would say for augmented reality you'll mostly be using vector graphics to create things like buttons or frames.

- **_Illustrator_** - Once again we have Adobe with the industry standard in the form of [Illustrator](https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator.html). Like Photoshop you'll be paying monthly, but if you do a lot of work with Illustrator it might be worth it.

- **_Affinity Designer_** - Just like we have Affinity Photo as an alternative to Photoshop, we have [Affinity Designer](https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/designer/) as an alternative to Illustrator. Like Affinity Photo, you will only have your one-time payment of \$50.

- **_Inkscape_** - And if you are looking for a free vector graphics editor, we have [Inkscape](https://inkscape.org/). It might not be as polished as Illustrator or Affinity Designer, but it is still extremely capable and worth checking out if you don't have the money to spend on the other options.

## Other

Most AR work will probably be focused on the design, but here's some other software that you might find useful.

### Video

Now video files can get big pretty fast and that's a problem for AR. The longer an experience takes to load, the less likely someone is to use it. However, it is still useful to have some video editing software. You can use it to put together demo videos to get people interested in your effect, and some designers like to use something like After Effects to create short animations for use in their effects.

### Backups

It is always good practice to maintain a backup of your work. Whether this be an external hard drive or cloud based is up to you. I save all my work to OneDrive so that I always have a backup and can access it anywhere. This came in handy when I had to send my laptop in for repairs and borrowed my wife's computer in the interim.

## Conclusion

Both Lens Studio and Spark AR provide enough capabilities for you to get started without relying on outside software, but having 3D and 2D design software is required once you need to start generating/preparing assets. Fortunately there are a ton of options, each with many tutorials to help you get started. The only limits to what you'll be able to create are your imagination and the technical limitations of the AR platform. Have fun creating!


You don't need much to get started in augmented reality, but there are some things you won't be able to do without the help of external software. Here are my recommendations.

What software do I need for creating augmented reality?


Not sure how to script that feature you need? Getting lost in the patch editor? You aren't alone. Making augmented reality filters can be difficult, but there are lots of helpful resources out there that can make it a little easier. Here we are taking a look at some helpful resources you can use and learn from for your next Spark AR project. Spark AR of course [has their own tutorials](https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/learn/tutorials/#connecting-multiple-sequences), but here we are looking at outside resources created by the community. Read on to learn where to find Spark AR patches, scripts, and more!

## The Spark AR Community Github repo

If you aren't familiar with Github, it is a code sharing website. Software developers setup a repository (repo for short), add their code, and then others are free to use or contribute to the repo. Some members of the [Spark AR community](https://www.facebook.com/groups/SparkARcommunity/) (which is also a good place to ask for help) have setup a few [Github repos](https://github.com/Spark-AR-Community) to compile various resources. Of note are the [script snippet repo](https://github.com/Spark-AR-Community/SparkAR-Snippets) and the [resource compilation](https://github.com/Spark-AR-Community/awesome-spark-ar).

## Unofficial scripting reference

The official Spark AR scripting reference is not always the easiest to understand, so some members of the community created their own [unofficial scripting docs](https://sparkar-community.gitbook.io/docs/). Now, some of the unofficial docs look to be exact copies of the official docs, and Spark AR is constantly making updates so some of the unofficial docs are out of date, but it is still worth checking out if you are running into issues with scripting. And if you get something figured out, feel free to [contribute and improve the docs](https://github.com/Spark-AR-Community/Spark-AR-Scripting-Reference).

## Josh Beckwith/Posit Labs

Josh has a [ton of great resources](https://github.com/positlabs) for Spark AR. One resource in particular is his [collection of blend mode patches](https://github.com/positlabs/spark-blend-modes). Spark AR doesn't have a ton of built-in blend modes, so these patches are definitely good to have on hand.

## Spark AR Extensions

The [Spark AR Extensions repo](https://github.com/kunofellasleep/KunoSparkARExtensions) has some great patches for adjusting colors and a few other functions. Included are some example projects so you can play around with the patches and see how they work and what they do.

## Spark AR Patches

If you don't mind the lack of documentation, [Muhammad Syahman](https://github.com/fukarinka/spark-ar-patches) has a pretty sizable collection of patches you can explore and adapt.

## Reddit

You can also checkout the [Spark AR community on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/SparkArStudio/). Lots of effect sharing and question asking with the occasional template or patch being shared. A good place to poke your head in once in a while to see what's new or to answer some questions.

## Conclusion

This list is by no means all inclusive of the many great resources out there for Spark AR, but hopefully it serves as a good starting point. Now get out there, learn, and give back to the community!


Time crunch? Not sure how to do something? Check out these awesome Spark AR resources to help jumpstart your next project!

Helpful resources for Spark AR Studio


If you've ever used Instagram, I'm sure you're familiar with filters. Filters are a quick and easy way to adjust the colors and tones of your images and videos. Instagram makes this super easy by providing presets when you are creating a post, but what about for your augmented reality filters? Fortunately there are plenty of resources out there to help make this process super easy. A popular way to do this is with a lookup table, or LUT for short.

> Be sure to test your color effect on people with varying skin tones. Some LUTs that look good on people with lighter skin will sometimes make darker skin turn very orange. Spark AR has done a good job of including both male and female individuals of various ethnicities in the [video selector in the toolbar](https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/learn/articles/fundamentals/navigating-the-interface#the-toolbar-and-menu-bar). Use this to make sure your effect looks good on everyone.

## Free LUTs

Want to save some time and are looking for free LUTs for Spark AR? I've converted all 38 of Lens Studio's built-in LUTs for use in Spark AR! They are [free to download on Gumroad](https://gum.co/SparkAR-LUTs) and are compatible with [Josh Beckwith's FastColorLUT patch](https://github.com/positlabs/spark-lut-patch). If you are looking for a little more control over your LUTs, I've modified the FastColorLUT patch to let you control the strength of the LUT; [it is also free on Gumroad](https://gum.co/FastColorLUT-Plus).

## Using LUTs

If you are a photographer, you probably have at least a few Lightroom presets. It is pretty easy to take your presets, turn them into LUTs, and then use those LUTs within Spark AR. This tutorial by Till walks you through the whole process, from exporting the LUT to importing into Spark AR and finally submitting your finished effect.

`youtube:ltLyDMl3FKo`

For some pre-made LUTs, take a look at this tutorial by Josh Beckwith. He's graciously [provided several pre-made LUTs](https://github.com/positlabs/spark-lut-patch) that you can download and use in your own filters. As he demonstrates in the video, you can use LUTs to not only create some nice aesthetic effects, but also some pretty zany effects too.

`youtube:lxF-ecbkbr4`

Now, using a LUT doesn't guarantee you'll get good results, so watch the following video for some more tips and tricks to get a good looking result.

`youtube:9xM1rbc4y-E`

## Doing it manually

This method is a little more complicated, but you can use the patch editor in Spark AR to create color effects without relying on outside software. While it's a more complicated setup, you can integrate specific aspects of your color correction more deeply with the rest of your effect (e.g. change it based on user interaction). For a breakdown of how to do this manually, [Spark AR themselves provide a short tutorial on the subject](https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/learn/tutorials/color-filters/).


Instagram lets you add filters when you post, but what about for AR effects? Learn how to create your own color effects using LUTs in Spark AR!

Color effects with LUTs in Spark AR Studio


Have you noticed [demon horn lenses](https://www.snapchat.com/unlock/?type=SNAPCODE&uuid=6eee37c41cca422ba217d1fb39fefe56&metadata=01) starting to take over the Trending section lately in Snapchat? Find out how easy it is to create your own demon horn lens!

## The 3 minute version

That's right. Three minutes. Shawn does a great job of walking you through how to create the demon horn effect in just three minutes. Besides being super straightforward to follow, you don't even need to download any other software other than Lens Studio; the small amount of 3D editing is done in a web browser. Definitely check out this tutorial.

`youtube:I1ITMAwRWIs`

## Expanding your horizons

If you are going for the simple demon horn look, you can't beat Shawn's tutorial. But if you want something a little more complex, you'll want to check out Lens Studio's official [Face Morph](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/templates/face/face-morph/) documentation. What are the advantages to learning about the face morph more in depth? Rather than start with the demon horns visible, using some of the more advanced face morph features would let you have the horns grow or shrink. This could lead to some pretty cool transformations.

`youtube:qbLQ4UleRFc`


Have you noticed demon horn lenses starting to take over the Trending section lately in Snapchat? Find out how easy it is to create your own demon horn lens!

Demon horns in Lens Studio


There are a few different ways to make freckles in Lens Studio.

## Using the face mesh

One of the easiest ways to create freckles is to use the face mesh. All you have to do is download a guide image from the Lens Studio website, add your own design, and then apply it to the face mesh. [Read more about this technique here](https://arbootcamp.com/snapchat-beginner/easy-freckles).

`youtube:OKTgCRxE_h0`

## Using a face mask

Using a face mask can also be an effective method for creating freckles, although you won't get the automatic occlusion like you do from using the face mesh.

`youtube:MiTdRz1gds0`

`youtube:Ht9ygMoCO9s`

## Using the material editor

This tutorial from the Lens Studio team provides a special material that will help you create your custom freckles.

`youtube:uBUHhv4kgGk`

You can view this custom material in action here:

`youtube:xrTvYs4k9Wc`

## Using a custom template and script

You can also use a custom template and script to create your freckles. The advantage to this is that you can easily swap out multiple images and add some randomization, but it is tricky customizing the placement of each freckle.

`youtube:ZJxt6f8PjpQ`


Want to add freckles to your Snapchat lenses/filters? Fortunately there are several different ways you can do this using Lens Studio.

Freckles in Lens Studio


The most popular way of making grain in Lens Studio is probably by overlaying an image or video. But, you can also make grain using the material editor.

## Using an image overlay

Adding an image overlay is a pretty straightforward way of adding grain to your lenses. The hardest part might be finding grain images, but fortunately resources like [Film Composite](https://www.filmcomposite.com/free-film-assets) exist with some free images of film grain. Watch the video below or [read the tutorial here](https://arbootcamp.com/snapchat-beginner/grain).

`youtube:q3PtpCixl5k`

Natalie's tutorial also goes through all the steps of finding and adding a grain image, but I do want to interject and say that when you are searching for a grain image on Google, be sure you [filter by usage rights](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/29508?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en&oco=0) to make sure you aren't violating any copyright. Google Images is a search engine after all, not a direct source of images.

`youtube:TABYa8KUDQU`

If you don't want static grain, you can follow the same steps as for using an image overlay, but just swap out the image for a GIF, a video, or an image sequence of the grain.

- GIF - Importing a GIF is probably the simplest method. You can search for and import GIFs [from directly within Lens Studio](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/2d/giphy-import/).
- Video - You'll need to find a video to which you have the rights to use. Once you have the video, you may need to convert/resize it to follow the [Lens Studio guidelines for videos](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/2d/video/). Video files can also get pretty large, so be mindful of the resolution and quality settings.
- Image Sequence - If you are having trouble finding a good GIF or video, you can take several different grain textures and [import them as an image sequence](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/2d/2d-animation/). It's a pretty simple way to add some movement to your grain.

## Using the material editor

You can also create grain using the [Material Editor](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/material-editor/) inside of Lens Studio. This might sound complicated, but there are some pretty good tutorials out there.

Ryan's tutorial is probably the easiest way to add grain using the material editor. It is simple yet effective.

`youtube:sI1M6c-dGbo`

Max van Leeuwen is an extremely talented Official Lens Creator who created a customizable grain material that you can [simply download](https://maxvanleeuwen.com/downloads/#lsgraingenerator) and start playing with inside of Lens Studio.

The Lens Studio team themselves also created a tutorial for adding some stylized grain. It's long, but their tutorial streams are always packed with information and tips you can apply to other lenses.

`youtube:ETqt3h0vbTk`

## Bonus - the Analog TV effect

There's also a built-in method for adding noise - the [Analog TV post effect!](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/2d/post-effect/). After you add the effect, set the chromatic aberration and distortion intensity both to 0 (unless you want some of that in your lens) and you are good to go! Just adjust the color and intensity of your noise.


A lot of popular lenses have some sort of grain added to them. Want to add it to your lenses? Come find out!

Grain in Lens Studio


You don't have to reinvent the wheel. While it's great to learn how to do everything yourself, sometimes you have time or knowledge constraints. Here's a list of helpful resources created by the Lens Studio community that can help you quickly create awesome lenses. Snapchat themselves have [created a ton of useful templates](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/templates/), but here we are focusing on outside resources. Use them, learn from them, and make something awesome! Read on to learn where to find Lens Studio scripts, templates, and more!

## The OLC Github repo

If you aren't familiar with Github, it is a code sharing website. Software developers setup a repository (repo for short), add their code, and then others are free to use or contribute to the repo. Some of the Official Lens Creators (OLC) created a repo for sharing some helpful templates and scripts. Here you'll find anything ranging from a ["Which <BLANK> are you?" template](https://github.com/FrozenAtlas/OLC-Repo/tree/master/Projects%20and%20Templates/WhichBLANKareyouTEMPLATE) to a [script that will cause an object to follow you around the room](https://github.com/FrozenAtlas/OLC-Repo/blob/master/Scripts/Object%20Follow.js). You can find the [OLC Github repo here](https://github.com/FrozenAtlas/OLC-Repo).

## Robin Delaporte's projects

Another great place for some starter projects is [Robin Delaporte's Github repo](https://github.com/robin-dela/snapchat-lenses). Here he's shared some interesting projects he's created. Definitely some cool stuff here to check out.

## Physics with Ashley Fletcher

There is no way to natively simulate physics (e.g. a bouncing ball) within Lens Studio, so Ashley Fletcher got Cannon.js, a popular JavaScript physics library, working inside Lens Studio. This template may require a little more technical knowledge to use, but he does provide an example project with the physics in action. You can [find his code and template here](https://github.com/ashleymarkfletcher/lens-studio-physics).

## Minesweeper

If you like making game lenses, then definitely checkout [SheepWizard's Minesweeper lens](https://github.com/SheepWizard/Snap-Lens-Minesweeper). The entire project is available on Github so you can take a look at their scripts and their setup and learn a few things for your own games.

## Reddit

There is a good sized [Lens Studio community on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/SnapLenses/). Most of the posts are people sharing their work or looking for specific lenses, but occasionally someone will share a template or some other helpful resource. It's worth stopping by every so often to see what's going on.

## Discord

If Discord is your thing, [there's a Lens Studio Discord server](https://discordapp.com/invite/CBjs4Pt) you can join. Here you can find templates, tutorials, scripts, and you can ask questions.

## Conclusion

This list is by no means all inclusive of the many great resources out there for Lens Studio, but hopefully it serves as a good starting point. Now get out there, learn, and give back to the community!


Stand on the shoulders of giants with these helpful resources for Lens Studio. Come learn where to find awesome scripts and templates created by the Lens Studio community.

Helpful resources for Lens Studio


Adding the bling effect is not quite as simple as just clicking a few buttons, but it also isn't too hard to do.

## Using the material editor

My favorite method is probably the material editor based method. Julien's tutorial is very clear and easy to follow. I think you will have to create a Discord account if you haven't already to download a few resources from his Discord server. One issue I ran into while following Julien's tutorial was that I tried to use a non-square GIF image for my bling image. That did not work at all and gave me a ton of issues. Make sure the image you are wanting to use is a square image and you'll be just fine.

`youtube:Hr1uLEJ9IuI`

## Using particles

You can also create the Kira Kira effect using particles, although with this method the sparkles will be random rather than associated with the edges of objects like in the above two tutorials. It's really just a matter of taste. A benefit to using particles vs the material editor is that you can add some motion to the sparkles which may be a nice effect depending on your style of lens.

`youtube:EAMj7rqj5vs`


It goes by many names - Kira Kira, bling, glitter, sparkle - and it took Snapchat by storm. But how do you make this effect? Let's find out!

Kira Kira/Bling effect in Lens Studio


Lens Studio has a lot of great built-in LUTs, but it's hard to know what exactly they look like just from their names. Check out this handy visual reference of all the LUTs that are packaged with Lens Studio.

All these LUTs are also [available for free](https://gum.co/SparkAR-LUTs) for Spark AR.

## No LUT

![Reference image with no LUT applied](/images/guides/lut-reference/no-lut.jpg)

## All Yellow

![All Yellow LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/all-yellow.jpg)

## Blown White

![Blown White LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/blown-white.jpg)

## Blue Orange

![Blue Orange LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/blue-orange.jpg)

## Brightening

![Brightening LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/brightening.jpg)

## BW

![BW LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/bw.jpg)

## Cinematic

![Cinematic LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/cinematic.jpg)

## Clean

![Clean LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/clean.jpg)

## Contrast

![Contrast LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/contrast.jpg)

## Crisp Warm

![Crisp Warm LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/crisp-warm.jpg)

## Curve

![Curve LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/curve.jpg)

## Faded

![Faded LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/faded.jpg)

## Flower

![Flower LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/flower.jpg)

## Frost

![Frost LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/frost.jpg)

## Heat

![Heat LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/heat.jpg)

## Instant Photo

![Instant Photo LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/instant-photo.jpg)

## Invert

![Invert LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/invert.jpg)

## Miami

![Miami LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/miami.jpg)

## Monocrome

![Monocrome LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/monocrome.jpg)

## Night

![Night LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/night.jpg)

## Night Vision

![Night Vision LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/night-vision.jpg)

## Old Paper

![Old Paper LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/old-paper.jpg)

## Pale

![Pale LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/pale.jpg)

## Purple Hills

![Purple Hills LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/purple-hills.jpg)

## Rainbow

![Rainbow LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/rainbow.jpg)

## Reddish

![Reddish LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/reddish.jpg)

## Red Lips

![Red Lips LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/red-lips.jpg)

## Retro Game

![Retro Game LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/retro-game.jpg)

## Roy Dark

![Roy Dark LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/roy-dark.jpg)

## Sepia

![Sepia LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/sepia.jpg)

## Sharp Warm

![Sharp Warm LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/sharp-warm.jpg)

## Spectrum

![Spectrum LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/spectrum.jpg)

## Sunglass

![Sunglass LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/sunglass.jpg)

## Texas

![Texas LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/texas.jpg)

## Two Stripe

![Two Stripe LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/two-stripe.jpg)

## Vintage Blue

![Vintage Blue LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/vintage-blue.jpg)

## Vintage Red

![Vintage Red LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/vintage-red.jpg)

## Vintage Warm

![Vintage Warm LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/vintage-warm.jpg)

## Warm

![Warm LUT](/images/guides/lut-reference/Warm.jpg)


Lens Studio has a lot of great built-in LUTs, but it's hard to know what exactly they look like just from their names. Check out this handy visual reference of all the LUTs that are packaged with Lens Studio.

Lens Studio built-in LUT reference guide


Color corrections are everywhere on Snapchat. A color correction can be thought of as a traditional Instagram filter; the adjustments affect the color tones of the image. Whether the color correction is itself a standalone lens or used as part of a bigger effect, there's no denying their popularity. Lens Studio has a whole list of built-in lookup tables, known as LUTs for short, to help you quickly add color corrections to your lenses. If the built-in LUTs aren't cutting it for you, it is also super easy to import and use your own.

> Be sure to test your color effect on people with varying skin tones. Some LUTs that look good on people with lighter skin will sometimes make darker skin turn very orange. Lens Studio has done a good job of including both male and female individuals of various ethnicities in the [preview panel](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/general/previewing-your-lens/). Use this to make sure your lens looks good on everyone.

## Using the built-in LUTs

The easiest way to add a color correction is to use one of [Lens Studio's built-in LUTs](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/2d/post-effect/). It's simply a matter of choosing one from the list and adjusting the strength of the effect. If you are looking for a quick way to add some color adjustments to your lens, this is a great approach. The wide selection of LUTs means you can create some pretty great effects without ever leaving Lens Studio. Take a look at Emily's tutorial on how to do so.

`youtube:y43ZeZUOPow`

## Making your own LUT

If you are wanting to create your own color correction, Lens Studio provides a base LUT on their [post effect page](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/2d/post-effect/) that you can download and use. They do provide some brief instructions on how to do that, but for a deeper look at how this is done, check out the following videos.

Creating your own LUT can be as simple as applying a VSCO filter. Once again we have Emily here to walk us through the process.

`youtube:QrcrKtCvONc`

If you are coming from a photography background, you can use Lightroom to create your LUTs as demonstrated here by Natalie.

`youtube:ctJRdIHIFok`

And if Photoshop is your jam, Mario can help walk you through the process.

`youtube:4qCB60p9ALo`


Want to make your own color correction Snapchat lens? You're in luck because Lens Studio makes it easy with LUTs!

Color effects with LUTs in Lens Studio


Want to add some machine learning to your lenses with SnapML but don't know how? Don't worry! You don't need to be a machine learning expert to get started. In fact, it's possible to get started with zero background in machine learning or programming and without spending a dime. Let's see how!

## No code - Fritz AI

[Fritz AI](https://www.fritz.ai/) is an online platform that lets you create machine learning models without the need to write a single line of code. It is a paid platform, but they do offer a free tier. When you sign up, select `Studio` for the type and then choose the `Sandbox` subscription. Besides being a no-code solution, what's so great about Fritz AI? They actually have an entire workflow specifically for SnapML! For the style transfer template, all you need to do is create your project, choose your image, wait for it to train, and then you can download a Lens Studio project file. You will have to setup a few things in the file for it to work, but the project comes with instructions on everything you need to do. I gave it a try and it was a super painless experience. I definitely recommend giving Fritz AI a try.

## Lens Studio templates

Lens Studio also [provides several SnapML templates](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/machine-learning/lens-templates/) with step-by-step tutorials on how to customize and use them. It isn't as straightforward as clicking a few buttons like in Fritz AI, but it still isn't too difficult at all. All the models for their templates can be trained using [Google Colab](https://colab.research.google.com/). Training a machine learning model is best done with an Nvidia graphics card, but not everyone has one of those. Google Colab is cloud-based so they provide all the hardware you need to train machine learning models, and they also have a free tier that is usually more than adequate for your SnapML needs.

## Pre-built models

The [ONNX Model Zoo](https://github.com/onnx/models) is a great resource of pre-trained, ready to use models. Not all models are small enough to fit inside a lens, nor are all the models compatible with SnapML, but it is still a great starting place. For my [Bingo lens](https://www.snapchat.com/unlock/?type=SNAPCODE&uuid=5e432fc7161d483aa833294bcb6dfa25&metadata=01) I started with the SqueezeNet model and retrained the classifier on a different dataset, so even if the model isn't exactly what you need, it can still be better than starting from scratch.

## Setting out on your own

Both Fritz AI and the Lens Studio templates are great, but their ease of use comes with a loss of flexibility. If you are a power user, you may need to train models from scratch on your own. Here are a few tips for working with SnapML.

- **_Model sizes_** - SnapML models are limited to 10 MB. Now, there are a few quirks with this. Lens Studio does some sort of conversion when they read the models, and there's an optional compression option when you import, so you can load models that are initially larger than 10 MB. It might take a little trial and error to dial in your model sizes.
- **_Model format_** - SnapML only supports the `onnx` and `pb` formats, so make sure you can convert your model to either of those formats.
- **_Layer compatibility_** - Not all layer types are supported by SnapML, and some are supported only on certain architectures (CPU vs GPU). Lens Studio provides a [list of CPU/GPU compatibility](https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/guides/machine-learning/compatibility/) for various layers, but I'm not sure if there's a list of all the layers supported by SnapML in general. What I recommend is once you've settled on a model architecture, to train it briefly and export it to make sure all the layers can be read by Lens Studio. That way you won't waste hours or days of training only to find out your model isn't compatible with Lens Studio!
- **_Layer scaling_** - Image textures in Lens Studio work on a 0-255 scale, but your model probably works on a 0-1 scale. You may need to set the scale on your inputs to 0.00392 (convert your scale from 0-255 to 0-1) and then on the outputs set the scale to 255 (convert from 0-1 to 0-255). This will of course depend on your particular model, but it is something you need to keep in mind.

## In closing

Machine learning is becoming more and more accessible to end users, and it is possible to get started without having a background in machine learning. Jump in, play with the templates, and then learn what you need as you go! Good luck creating! Who knows, maybe you'll be the one to create the next big hit like the [Anime filter](https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/20/21525427/snapchat-earnings-q3-2020-anime-lens-3-billion-uses)!


Want to get started with machine learning in Lens Studio but don't know how? SnapML is still pretty new, but there are some awesome resources you can use to get started.

Let's get started!

General