Facebook will launch AR effects, triggered by various objects

Facebook will add AR effects, triggered by various real world objects and landmarks, such as roads, hills... and movie posters! This will happen in the not-so-distant future, as a demo of the feature, which is currently in closed beta, made an appearance on YouTube.

As a part of the promotion of the upcoming "Ready Player One" movie, Facebook will let users scan the movie's poster using an effect found in the app's camera, in favor of some AR goodness, as shown in the video above. What if you can't find the movie poster in real life, though? There seems to be no problem, as you can search it up on the Internet and scan it from there. There's also another movie planned to have its own AR poster-triggered effects, called "Wrinkle In Time".

Mathew Simari, Facebook Camera product manager told the source, he believes that AR will merge with the world around us, adding another layer of experience. He also said that AR is more consistent than real life and adds more context to whatever is happening. "In the future, we believe AR will be in the world all around us. Rather than the ephemeral ‘capture and share’ sessions we see today, AR will sit in a hidden data layer that you access through your devices – phones today, glasses tomorrow".

It's quite the bold prediction by Mr. Simari, but it may hold some truth after all. Social media apps already have AR effect cameras, allowing people to transform into dogs, dragons, and other freaky stuff. That being said, it's only a matter of time before we put AR into a more significant use.

via TechCrunch