Snapchat brings new AR filters to famous landmarks. Image: Screengrab from Lens Studio/Youtube
At the Snap Partner Summit on Thursday, Snapchat introduced a series of new augmented reality (AR)-powered Landmarker filters that give the world’s most famous monuments, landmarks and buildings imaginative and comical new personalities.
Acclaimed monuments and buildings like the Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace and the Flatiron Building have been photographed a seemingly infinite number of times. As Snap Inc. computer vision engineer Qi Pan noted, thanks to modern technology, people take more pictures of these landmarks than ever, so “it can be hard to find a fresh perspective.” To bring Snapchat users a new way to engage with and document these iconic buildings, Snap Inc. introduced Landmarker filters to the application.
To accomplish this, the Snap team used publicly shared photos of landmarks, including the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. in addition to Paris’s Eiffel Tower, London’s Buckingham Palace and New York’s Flatiron Building, to create digital 3D models of each one so precise that Snapchat will be able to recognize each from various perspectives. Though the team made these models available in the Lens Studio so anyone can create filters for them, they also made some ready-made designs for Snapchatters to use right now.
As of this week, you can turn the Flatiron Building into a cheesy slice of pepperoni pizza, shroud Buckingham Palace in gold or add your own flair to your favorite landmark by making your own filter in the Lens Studio. CE/JB
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