Newsletter Archive
Stay up-to-date with augmented reality on Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook! The AR Bootcamp newsletter is brought to you by me, Mike (aka modelsbymike3d), and I'll be sharing my tips, tricks, thoughts, and ramblings on social AR. Whether you are looking to get started with AR filters, are a seasoned professional, or you have no idea what I'm talking about, this newsletter is for you!
Newsletter #25
TikTok knows how to treat AR creators Picture it, November 2020. Snap pledges one million dollars per day for Spotlight creators and encourage people to use lenses to create engaging videos. In the end they paid out several hundred millions of dollar...
Newsletter #24
The greatest Snapchat lens I was perusing the entries to the Spotlight Lensathon and came across one of the greatest Snapchat lenses I've ever seen. Action Loop is a super cool lens that records your 3D motion and creates a digital twin. It's a very...
Newsletter #23
RIP Snap I'm starting to worry about Snap. I'm a die-hard Lens Studio creator, but now I'm having some doubts. Snap's layoffs have been all over the news, and if you're reading this newsletter I'm sure you are already familiar with them. The reason t...
Newsletter #22
Memes really do come true part 2 In my last newsletter I made a meme about TikTok's Effect House being Mac only. I'd heard that a Windows beta was "coming soon," and it actually ended up being really soon because the Effect House Windows beta is happ...
Newsletter #21
This has been the year of the sporadic newsletter, so lots of old stuff in here as I catch up. Memes really do come true A few months ago Niantic bought 8th Wall and I waxed poetic about how they should lower their prices. Turns out they did in fact...
Newsletter #20
SPS predictions The Snap Partner Summit (SPS) is next week on April 28th. Last year they announced their new Spectacles and Lens Studio 4. We can expect Lens Studio 5 to be announced at SPS this year and I have a few predictions of what to expect. I'...
Newsletter #19
It's been a while since I sent out a newsletter, but I am indeed still rambling about AR stuff. Batteries are included I sometimes like to recreate TikTok filters for Snapchat. My most recent recreation was the Split Scanner lens I created. So what'...
Newsletter #18
Call me a pseudofuturist Three out of my six predictions came true for what we could expect next from Lens Studio. All six predictions coming true would have made me a futurist, so 50% makes me a pseudofuturist. Or are all futurists pseudofuturists?...
Newsletter #17
Lens Fest Lens Fest is tomorrow, so if you are into Snapchat lenses make sure you are registered (it's free). If my predictions come true I think I'll have to call myself a futurist. SparkSL (kinda) demystified SparkSL is Spark AR's version of GLSL f...
Newsletter #16
Meme about choosing between reading this newsletter or doing something productive My Snap AR predictions Lens Fest is just around the corner so I want to share my predictions for what's next for Lens Studio. In case any of my predictions come true,...
Newsletter #15
The coolest use of SnapML SnapML lets anyone enhance their Snapchat lenses with machine learning. For most people this means things like style transfer or object detection, but GoSpooky managed to get 3D object tracking working. Check out their LEGO...
Newsletter #14
Be cheap labor for Cyberpunk 2077 Facebook ran a "Get Superpowered" competition a few months ago. It was pretty fun and I won a small prize from it. I was excited to see that they are running a new competition, but then I read the rules. Facebook's n...
Newsletter #13
Cool person to follow If you aren't familiar with Hart's Snapchat lenses, you should be. He doesn't upload a ton of personal lenses, but what he does post is usually mindblowing. Go check out his work and give him a follow on Twitter. Hart's finger s...
Newsletter #12
Tutorial dump In the last issue I mentioned that I was working on a style transfer tutorial using SnapML, and I'm glad to say I finally got it made. I also made "Big Head" and inpainting tutorials for Lens Studio. SnapML Style Transfer Big Head Inpai...
Newsletter #11
Ultimate LUT reference guide for Lens Studio Lens Studio has a lot of really awesome built-in LUTs. The only problem is that you have no idea what they look like until you add them to your lens. The solution? My comprehensive guide to all the LUTs...
Newsletter #10
Spark AR "Get Superpowered" Competition The Spark AR team is running a pretty big competition right now. The theme is "Get Superpowered" and they are looking for anything that has to do with superheros or superpowers. I appreciate the non-specifici...
Newsletter #9
No one expressed interest in joining the Filter Syndicate, so I think I need to come up with a catchier name and keep up the brainwashing. "Only" a LUT creator Every so often I hear a creator talk about how creating LUT/color correction filters is "...
Newsletter #8
Website updates I got search added back to the site and I added code highlighting back in as well. Still needs some work, but the redesign is coming along nicely. Tutorials I've actually had a few client projects lately so my tutorial output slowed d...
Newsletter #7
Best use of a tutorial Martine Beerman watched my cloning tutorial and used that as the basis for her Jigsaw Puzzle lens. It is very inventive and very well done. I love seeing people follow my tutorials, but I really love seeing people use them as t...
Newsletter #6
Visual scripting in Lens Studio I was initially excited when Lens Studio released visual scripting back in December because I saw it as a way to introduce non-coders to programming. But then I tried creating a visual script and quickly decided it was...
Newsletter #5
Excellent use of a tutorial This week I am going to give a shoutout to Jonah Cohn for his excellent use of my time warp tutorial. You can give his "Scanner Background" lens a try by clicking that link or by scanning the snapcode below. If you make so...
Newsletter #4
Big whoops So apparently I have no idea what I'm talking about. The flame outline filters that last week I predicted would take off have for the most part fizzled out. And no witchcraft or sorcery is needed to create the flame effect; you can find th...
Newsletter #3
I'm trying my hand at making my own GIFs for demonstration purposes this week. I'm hoping my good looks will bring in more subscribers, but in all likelihood the opposite of everything I just said will happen. What's trending? I have a feeling the f...
Newsletter #2
The Terminator saying I'm back" Guess who's back. Strange but probably true In honor of Pi Day which is coming up, I would like to share the following statistics. Pi used to be equivalent to the average number of posts on the Lens Studio forum befor...
Newsletter #1
Professor Farnsworth from Futurama saying "Good news, everyone!" Welcome to the first issue of the AR Bootcamp newsletter! What's new? Spark AR recently released v107, and one of the central features is their new UI Shader Code Asset that is "ideall...