In Augmented Reality News
December 7, 2023 – 8th Wall, a subsidiary of Niantic and a provider of a web-based augmented reality (WebAR) development platform, has recently unveiled a series of unique holiday experiences that have been created using 8th Wall’s 2023 releases to demonstrate some of the new tools and updates that have been made available to its WebAR platform throughout 2023.
Ask Santa Anything: Sky Effects + World Tracking with Inworld AI
At the start of the year, 8th Wall announced that its Sky Effects and World Tracking could be integrated to transform the entire world into a canvas for augmented reality (AR), a first in the industry. Using these two fields together, developers no longer have to choose between creating something in the sky or on a surface.
The new Our ‘Ask Santa Anything’ experience demonstrates this by combining Sky Effects and World Tracking with the Inworld AI Integration Module to bring a visit from Santa’s into any space. Audiences can see Santa appear in the sky and land in the world in front of them to start an interactive experience with Santa.
Niantic Holiday Card: personalized experiences with GenAI Modules
2023 marked the introduction of 8th Wall’s GenAI Modules built on Open AI, integrating Generative AI with WebAR. The GenAI Modules allow developers to build 8th Wall projects that use Open AI’s ChatGPT or DALL-E tools to create dynamic, responsive and interactive AR experiences without backend work.
For the holidays, 8th Wall has combined Image Targets and the 8th Wall GenAI Module to create the Niantic Holiday Card. With this experience, users can create unique personalized greeting cards using creative prompts that dynamically change the background scene.
Take an ‘Elfie: high-fidelity holiday experiences with Enhanced Face Effects
Throughout the year the company also announced a complete refresh to its Face Effects tools to make its WebAR filters more realistic. New features included new attachment points, face morphing toggles, enhanced face tracking, and new ear attachment points to allow for high-fidelity AR transformations.
With these features, 8th Wall created ‘Take an Elfie’, a WebAR experience powered by these enhanced Face Effects that transform users into an elf that they can then share on social media.
Holiday Hands: Create Interactive experiences with all-new Hand Tracking
8th Wall also expanded its Human AR suite of tools this year and introduced a Hand Tracking feature that allows users to create experiences that use the hands, wrists, and fingers together, opening up a range of possibilities for natural and intuitive engagement within WebAR.
To celebrate the release, the company created a Holiday Hands experience that combines physics and Hand Tracking to make a simple interactive game that lets audiences take their mitten covered hand and push around 8th Wall themed ornaments.
$1,000 Cash Prize with the 8th Wall Holiday Developer Challenge
Developers, brands, and agencies can use 8th Wall’s tools to create their own memorable WebAR campaigns, whether for the holiday season, e-commerce experiences, virtual try on, and more.
To further celebrate, 8th Wall has also announced that it is holding a new ‘8th Wall Holiday Developer Challenge’ that encourages developers to craft engaging holiday-themed WebAR experiences that employ the many tools and features that its platform offers.
The company is hosting an Info + Ideation session on Thursday, December 7 at 11AM Pacific Time. The winner of the challenge will receive a USD $1,000 cash reward, as well as the exclusive opportunity for a 1:1 meeting with Niantic Staff. Plus, the winning WebAR experience will be showcased on the 8th Wall homepage. Additionally, there will be three runner-up prizes of USD $500 each for the next best submissions. To learn more, click here.
For more information on 8th Wall and its tools for developing and creating WebAR experiences, please visit the company’s website.
Image / video credit: 8th Wall / YouTube
About the author
Sam Sprigg
Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.
