Social media messaging app developer of Snapchat, Snap Inc., today announced the launch of a web-based augmented reality creation tool aimed at advertisers designed to make it easy for them to develop “AR lenses” for the platform.

The “Lens Web Builder” circumvents the need for sophisticated AR development software or expert knowledge, thus allowing anyone to create an AR lens that can be used by brands to advertise their wares. The tool also operates in any web browser, making it available almost anywhere.

Lens Web Builder launched with a library of hundreds of templates and thousands of 3D objects and animations that will help marketers create AR experiences in minutes. That will allow businesses with limited budgets to create AR lenses and launch them on Snapchat without needing to pay high fees for access to such repositories.

Although access to the library and the tool are free, advertising campaigns that use the new lens technology will be subject to daily minimum spending requirements.

According to Snap, more than 75% of its 218 million daily active users engage with AR content every day on average. The company also revealed that more than 735,000 lenses have already been created. Popular lenses can draw in billions of views during their lifetime.

Snapchat lenses have been used to put funny glasses on people, make cats and dogs sparkle, make people look like Chewbacca from Star Wars and bring the English £20 note’s artwork to life.

Snapchat AR experiences operate by overlaying context-aware images over video seen by a smartphone lens and are activated from in the app or by scanning a Snapchat code. Businesses and advertisers can use them to boost brand awareness in customers by providing interesting AR lenses related to their products and services.

Snap’s current AR creation tool is Lens Studio, launched in 2017, which the company intends to continue to support.

Image: Snap