Mask After Effect

Over the past few months, Google has prioritized the development of its video communications products as the demand for social distancing solutions continues to increase in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the well-publicized move of making Google Meet free for all ca ...more

Contrary to popular belief, augmented reality apps have been available for a while now. I remember using the Layar app (still available for iOS and Android) to explore nearby businesses and landmarks with varying success via an early-generation Android handset. It would be ha ...more

Snapchat has released three new augmented reality Lenses that boast uber-accurate face tracking courtesy of the TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X and ARKit. Starting on Friday, professional wrestler-style face paint, a Day of the Dead-inspired mask with gold roses, and a golde ...more

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Google has packed new functionality into Google Meet to compete with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other video conferencing platforms. After adding background blurring and virtual backgrounds to match Zoom's capabilities, Google Meet now ...more

Messages is arguably the most important app on your iPhone, which is why it's always exciting when Apple pushes out new features for it. With the iOS 14 update, there a few critical changes as well as interface improvements and customization options that make the experience ev ...more

Aside from the occasional "creative" collage, most of your friends on social media are content with pretty basic image and video posts. You can easily one-up them with celebrity cameos or awesome time-lapse videos, but to truly outshine them, try your hands at some creative do ...more

You won't have to ask Santa for holiday-themed augmented reality experiences, because practically any social and shopping app that offers AR effects has them available now. Despite the relative ubiquity, a new set of seasonal AR Lenses in Snapchat (iOS | Android) stand out, a ...more

The cosmetics brands are among the earliest adopters of augmented reality, using virtual try-on tools to preview shades of makeup before buying. But, on Monday, fashion brand Christian Dior took a different approach, using Facebook's Spark AR platform on Instagram to deliver ...more

Helping to prove that science is way awesome, an 18-year old electrical engineering student has successfully made a light bulb float. His name is Chris Rieger, and he's been working on his "LevLight" project for about six months now, with pretty amazing results. This feat of i ...more

I used, I think 4 images for this one. They were mostly partial works begun for making masks. I tinted them using others filters in different ranges and then sandwiched them together as transparencies. From there I worked the colors and transparencies together to get close to ...more

Snapchat's first foray into augmented reality started with the selfie camera and face-tracking technology, with the app's AR capabilities expanding from there. More recently, Snapchat creators have gained full-body tracking via Lens Studio, which begat virtual costumes such a ...more

TikTok is all the rage right now, and its green screen effect is one of the more popular augmented reality tricks creators use to boost their viewership numbers. Now Snapchat has leveled the playing field by making it easier to access its own green screen effect. Green or blu ...more

Snapchat made augmented reality selfie effects famous, with Facebook copying the feature across its mobile apps. Of course, others have followed, but their face tracking apps often pale in comparison to the original. Now, Google is giving Android developers the keys to adding ...more

Augmented reality avatars that mimic facial expressions are no longer the exclusive province of Animojis on the iPhone X or AR Emojis from Samsung. Camera app Snow has added its own alternative to Apple and Samsung's features, which it also calls AR Emoji, for iOS and Android. ...more

On Tuesday, on the one-year anniversary of the announcement of its AR Camera platform, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg revealed at the company's F8 developers conference that the platform will be extended to the company's Instagram and Messenger apps. Users of the In ...more

Facebook just ratcheted up its ongoing augmented reality war against the competition by stealing away Google's director of product for AR, Nikhil Chandhok. In his new role, the executive will serve as Facebook's director of product on the company's Camera/AR team. Over the pa ...more

Apparently, Amazon's new year's resolution is to bulk up its fitness fashion sales by pumping up its augmented reality muscles. Last November, Amazon updated its iPhone and iPad apps with ARKit to display a limited selection of furniture, home decor, electronics, and toys in ...more

Continuing its unrelenting (and mostly successful) campaign against Snapchat, on Tuesday, Facebook announced the addition of "World Effects" to its Messenger app. If that sounds familiar, it's because the name and general execution mirror Snapchat's popular "World Lens" featu ...more

I use the Accessibility Shortcut on my iPhone practically every day, whether it's to dim the screen below the standard threshold, keep my child confined to a specific app, or open up the simulated magnifying glass. But with iOS 15, there are at least three more things I can us ...more

After leaning on augmented reality for its outdoor advertising, HBO has called on augmented reality again via Snapchat to promote its Watchmen series. On Thursday, the Snapchat app for iOS and Android displayed an AR Lens sponsored by HBO that turns users into two of the char ...more

The marketing team for Marvel Studios is doing "whatever it takes" to make sure you see Avengers: Endgame when it hits theaters in a couple of weeks, including offering an updated set of augmented reality Playmoji for the Playground app on Google Pixel. Included in an update ...more

While augmented reality headset makers are faced with tackling numerous challenges before the category is truly ready for prime time, a start-up comprised of former Microsoft engineers may have nailed fast and precise tracking of hand gestures and full-body locomotion. Operat ...more

The Galaxy S8 has finally touched down, and it's an absolutely gorgeous device. Samsung's brand new flagship comes jam-packed with new features — some refined, and some that aren't. Luckily, we've compiled some major features to help you get started as quickly as possible so y ...more

If you don't want to dress up as a vampire, witch, werewolf, or zombie again this Halloween, step things up a notch and go viral. There have been a ton of funny memes and absurd news since last October, so the only hard part is settling on the right one for inspiration for you ...more

If you like the idea of napping but have difficulty waking up after 20 minutes, drink a cup of coffee right before you lay down. As caffeine takes about 15 to 20 minutes to take physical effect, you can wake up from your nap ready to conquer the world just as the caffeine high ...more

Halloween is one of those things that always seems to sneak up on you before you're prepared, so if you don't have tons of free time to make your own kickass costume, you might have to throw together something a little more last minute. If you're really in a bind, it doesn't ...more

After opening up its Spark AR platform on Instagram for all creators, Facebook is already expanding the platform's capabilities on its Snapchat killer. On Monday, the company released version 76 of Spark AR Studio, which brings support for two new AR effect options for develo ...more

After adding dual cameras to its camera glasses, Snap is finally taking full advantage of the depth-sensing abilities of newer iPhones as well, extending the use of its new 3D Camera Mode. Rolling out to Snapchat on iPhone X, XS, XR, and new 11-series iPhones this week, 3D Ca ...more

With the Super Bowl just days away, it seems appropriate to draw parallels between football and the professional sport of technology business, or, more specifically, the augmented reality segment. Like the Patriots and Eagles, businesses have to deal with the media, as Apple ...more

Apple's bringing big changes to your iPhone's lock screen in iOS 16, and one of those changes lets you pick an always-updating wallpaper for your local weather conditions. If you don't want to wait until the fall for the stable iOS 16 version and don't want to install any iOS ...more

In these times of social distancing, video calling is becoming the technological substitute for face-to-face connections. For those who carry an iPhone, the art of video calling defaults to FaceTime, the native app on iOS that is exclusive to Apple devices. But what do you do ...more

Remember Photo Booth on Mac and iOS? It still exists, but there was a of time where everyone was using it. And why not? It was so cool to take photos with any background imaginable. Underwater? Check. On the moon? Of course. Now, Instagram wants to bring back the fun by introd ...more

The last six months have been filled with ups and downs for international music superstar Ariana Grande, but she's starting 2019 on a new, virtual foot, powered by Apple's iPhone TrueDepth camera. On Friday, a new Apple commercial showcased Grande's "7 Rings" single in the fo ...more

On Wednesday, Apple released a new batch of Animoji characters that gives iPhone X users more virtual masks to play around with, but what many have been waiting for is an app that lets you put on a virtual mask of another person, not an animated emoji. Well, that day has final ...more

Say goodbye to boring video chats over Messenger. Now the app is rolling out new features that can make any chat interesting and fun. There are a ton of them too, ranging from filters, to AR masks, to reactions. Reactions can be found by clicking on the 'thumbs up' icon at t ...more

Need to add some spooky ambient fog to your super-scary Halloween party? Rather than shelling out money for a fog machine you'll probably only use once a year, make a trip to the nearest drug store and pick up a bottle of glycerin, a gallon of distilled water, a 2-liter bottle ...more

It's easy to forget just how cool face filters are. Augmented reality has come a long way, and apps like Instagram now offer a suite of impressive effects to play with, but some of the best ones aren't easily found. There is a treasure trove of exclusive, custom face filters t ...more

On Tuesday, at the Unite Berlin developers conference, Unity unveiled new tools designed specifically for augmented reality that could literally raise the technology to the next level. Coming this fall, a new extension for Unity called Project MARS (short for Mixed and Augmen ...more

Since the very first moment I saw the iPhone X track a human face and display the results in real-time on an Animoji character, I've been waiting for the first great hack of this new iPhone feature. Not only do we now have that first great demonstration, it's so impressive it ...more

Facebook is aware that Snapchat is killing the social media game amongst the youths, which makes sense, because in 2017, video is king in social media currency. Facebook has continually shown that Mark Zuckerberg and crew seem to think the best strategy to keep up is to simply ...more

Planning a Super Bowl party, or any football-themed party for that matter, can be fun for even the most craft-adverse host, as almost anything brown can turn into a football with just a little decoration. With a little planning, you won't be serving up any Pinterest fails this ...more

Augmented reality technology is often likened to magic powers, so it is fitting that a new AR experience featuring the Harry Potter franchise uses the newest AR tricks from Facebook and its Spark AR platform. With Harry Potter and the Cursed Child returning to Broadway this f ...more

The Lens Studio app has become a cornerstone of Snap and its augmented reality technology portfolio by giving developers, creatives, and novices the ability to create augmented reality camera effects for Snapchat. One reason for this is Snap's steady and frequent iteration of ...more

Since Apple launched iOS 13, we've seen four major updates for iPhone, each of which added some cool new features. Between iOS 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4, and all the minor updates in between, there's never been a better time to be on iOS. And now, we've got even more positive cha ...more

When Facebook launched its first hardware products last year, the Portal and Portal+ smart displays, the company mostly touted its video-calling features as it faced off against Amazon and its Echo Show. But Facebook also had an interesting feature that mostly flew under the ...more

Fan favorite Transformer Bumblebee returns to theaters on Friday in a spin-off of the film franchise, so Paramount Pictures is bringing the car-robot back into the homes of fans via augmented reality. On Thursday evening, Snapchat launched a Sponsored World Lens featuring Bum ...more

In the lead up to the Magic Leap One launch, Magic Leap has been coy about what the actual field of view (FoV) is for its first commercial product. Now, a developer noticed that the client-side source code of the FoV documentation (published last month as a placeholder with t ...more

Even if your cat drives you a little nuts, don't worry, because a new study says that cats pose no risk to your mental health. Media reports in the last couple of years placed emphasis on the danger of your cat to your future mental health, and that of your children. No kiddi ...more

In order to make your food taste good, your favorite restaurant is most likely using way more salt than you think they are (among other pro secrets). Which is why when you ask just about any professional cook what the biggest problem with most home-cooked meals are, they almos ...more

There are many, many home remedies out there for relieving itchy mosquito bites. Everything from mud to banana peels and basil leaves to Alka-Seltzer tablets can help curb the itch. But before you even have to resort to any of those methods, you should be thinking about preven ...more

Food is a necessity, sure, but every now and then it's so satisfying to eat something because it is fun and delicious. While eating a whole tub of homemade ice cream might satisfy your need for gluttony, there's a way to take it even further—make your dinnerware edible. The B ...more

I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there who have no idea what a plague doctor is/was, so I'll start with an explanation. Despite what we now consider to be their relatively fearsome appearance, they were originally just doctors, and they have existed for as long as ...more

The face tracking of cats and dogs are probably my favorite AR innovations that have come to Snapchat Lenses over the past few years. What can I say, I enjoy taking photos and videos of my shorkie Lucy and my cat Dorian with goofy effects anchored on their cute little mugs. S ...more

Smartphone videos get better and better each year. Seven or eight years ago, who would have thought iPhone and Android phones could support 4K video recording. Some phones can even shoot slow-motion at 960 fps. But no matter the resolution or frame rate, a phone's rolling shut ...more

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that augmented reality (or, AR for short) will "change everything." But what, exactly, is augmented reality? Generally, augmented reality refers to the process of presenting virtual objects and imagery — usually through a wearable lens or external ...more

In a surprising twist of expectation management, Magic Leap managed to not only ship but deliver the Magic Leap One I ordered on Wednesday by 4 p.m. PT on the same day. After spending about an hour with the headset running through set up and poking around its UI and a couple ...more

Since its debut, retro thriller Stranger Things and its characters have become ingrained in our popular culture — especially the telekinetic Eleven. For cosplayers, it didn't take long before they grabbed their boxes of frozen Eggo waffles, blonde wigs (or bald caps), and pink ...more

In our first part on software-defined radio and signals intelligence, we learned how to set up a radio listening station to find and decode hidden radio signals — just like the hackers who triggered the emergency siren system in Dallas, Texas, probably did. Now that we can hea ...more

Notch loves Halloween. He must, because he keeps putting scarier and scarier things into Minecraft around Halloween time! Today, Minecraft 1.4.2 was released, and it's a doozy. Versions 1.4 and 1.4.1 were actually skipped entirely, as lots of bug-fixes were patched between th ...more