Introduction to AR/VR + Experiment with Spark AR

In the first week of DES241 Mixed Reality class, the students had the introduction to AR and VR and what they are.

Students then got to try an AR experiment with an app called "Spark AR"

Source: Google Search

Spark AR is an augmented reality platform made by Facebook where you can customise and make yourself AR effects by downloading the program on your desktop which you can publish online on Facebook/Instagram (Chacon, 2019; Spark AR, 2020).

I personally use social media often and see many people use these AR effects on their face especially on Instagram stories, so it was interesting to see how many people have created their personal effects using this programme.

Experiment:

I used face tracker with the left gif using Face Mesh and right just a simple plane.

The images used were gotten from a free png website.

Since I applied for the course two weeks late and did not attend the week's session, I had difficulty trying to find a way how I could experiment with this platform. However, the platform itself had various tutorials already and there were many YouTube videos out there that taught that basics I needed to experiment this platform. After learning the basics, it was very simple to apply a variety of effects on the face.

Conclusion:

It was very interesting to see how you could apply a variety of images and effects and experiment with them. I think would enjoy creating more complex effects in my spare time.

Reference:

Chacon, B. (2019). The Ultimate Guide to Spark AR Studio for Instagram. Later. https://later.com/blog/spark-ar-instagram/#:~:text=Spark%20AR%20Studio%20is%20an,or%20Sketch%2C%20but%20for%20AR.

Spark AR. (2020). Spark AR Studio - Create Augmented Reality Experiences. https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/

#DES241 #mixedrealities