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 down, but I did get a new tutorial out this week. It is all about the Procedural Texture Provider and how to read and write individual pixel values. Super handy for creating things like color palettes or matching a user's skin tone.

Snap Partner Summit

The Snap Partner Summit (SPS) is next week and I am tentatively excited. Last year they released Lens Studio 3.0 and SnapML, so not sure how they're going to top that this year. SPS this year is claiming to "celebrate our creator partners". I'm assuming they mean both lens creators and Spotlight content creators, but Snap hands out money to Spotlight like there's no tomorrow so I have a feeling that's who they're mostly referring to. Spotlight is awesome and I'm glad creative people are getting paid, and maybe it's good that people who are shaking their booties and stealing sharing content from TikTok are getting paid too. But us lens creators would love some of those sweet, sweet dollars too 🥺️

What's the next trend?

I'm not sure there's a huge widespread trend going on right now. The "Which {blank} are you?" filters took the world by storm a little over a year ago. They got old after a while, but for a time they were fun and it was refreshing to see something new and inventive trending. There have obviously been other trendy filters since then (Kira Kira, alt, devil horns, cyber, etc), but I don't feel they're on the same level. The screen scanner lenses are kind of a trend, but nearly all of them are carbon copies of the original. What is the next big trend going to be? I think the best way to answer that question would be to form a secretive "think tank" organization and collectively decide what trend to set next. We'll call ourselves the "Filter Syndicate." Who's in?