Remember the first days of the pandemic? People stayed away from offices, supermarkets and bars. Instead, they huddled for long hours in front of their video chat cameras. So, this is obviously the perfect place to keep an eye on them and their Corona conduct. We figured out how often people touched their faces during long video calls. Whilst a common behavior, when people are concentrated, distracted or simply bored. This is a big no-no, during the Corona pandemic. Everybody from the American CDC to European health institutions recommends against it. The virus easily gets transmitted by your hands. Moreover, it can survive up to 28 days, even on smartphone displays.
Prototype - We coded a watchdog. It’s not interested in treats but in your bad Corona habits.
Our main goal: Non viral videos.
Combining these insights, a group of creatives from our „TechTrigger“-program came up with the „Video Virus Watchdog“. A plug in filter for popular video chat platforms tracks peoples’ faces and hands. If both get together too close, an AR generated effect sparks viruses all around their head. A bold visual hint to retract stop what you are at.
Prototype. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
We didn’t just imagine what our solution would look like. We coded it. Luckily, video chat platforms provide powerful tools to prototype real filters, effects or lenses. Our filter hijacked the face and hand tracking features, that were originally designed for AR functionalities.
As it turns out, it’s not too difficult. And solutions like Facebooks Spark AR or Snapchats Lense studio are free and easy to access.
Prototype. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
We didn’t just imagine what our solution would look like. We coded it. Luckily, video chat platforms provide powerful tools to prototype real filters, effects or lenses. Our filter hijacked the face and hand tracking features, that were originally designed for AR functionalities.
As it turns out, it’s not too difficult. And solutions like Facebooks Spark AR or Snapchats Lense studio are free and easy to access.
Facebooks Spark AR
The Facebook solution integrates as a filter natively in their video chat. Consequently, it is limited to Facebook's own apps.
The development is fun and easier than expected. Even complex features can be accessed by dragging and linking functional blocks without writing a single line of code.
Facebooks Spark AR
The Facebook solution integrates as a filter natively in their video chat. Consequently, it is limited to Facebook's own apps.
The development is fun and easier than expected. Even complex features can be accessed by dragging and linking functional blocks without writing a single line of code.
Snapchat Lens Studio
Snapchat takes a different approach. The Snap Camera App works on your desktop computer and plugs into the video chat camera. The “filtered” video stream works with popular Apps like Zoom, Skype or Teams.
The filters (called lenses) for the camera app are developed in “Lense Studio”. The filters offer more freedom which obviously leads to a more sophisticated way of coding.