POPSUGAR

The Augmented Reality Feature in Messenger is Freakin' Awesome

Feb 9 2018 - 5:10pm

Augmented reality — better known as AR — is quickly becoming a part of our everyday lives, mainly through the apps we use the most. The most recent app to take the plunge into the world of future tech? Facebook's Messenger, which on Dec. 12 announced a brand-new AR-focused feature: World Effects. Now, instead of just sending your loved ones a static image or standard video, you can spice up your messages with 3D objects that can be dropped anywhere in the vicinity of the camera in your device.

World Effects [1]

Messaging is more visual than ever, and features like photos, videos, emojis, stickers and GIFs make Messenger the best place for expressing yourself however you want. And with recent improvements - like the ability to send high resolution photos in Messenger - awesome visual messaging has a home in Messenger. It's been almost exactly a year since we introduced the powerful, native camera for Messenger and given that momentous timing, we're excited to introduce today a new feature for visual messaging — World Effects. World Effects technology enables you to drop 3D objects into your surroundings to capture and share fun moments with your family and friends. For example, add a 3D heart floating over someone's head and then try panning your phone's camera from side to side. Or use an arrow to point to an exact object or location in a panorama so your friend knows what you're referring to. Or better yet, add a new fun, celebratory robot to an otherwise every-day setting and spice things up a bit. (Hint: be sure to try the robot out with your phone's volume turned up - the robot plays three different kinds of music!) We're launching a handful of World Effects to people around the world. In addition to the heart, arrow and robot, you can also try playing around with a unicorn plus word bubbles, like “love,” “bae,” “heart” and “miss you.” To add a World Effect, open the Messenger Camera (from your inbox or from inside an existing conversation by tapping the camera icon), and then scroll to choose from the camera effects. Pick an effect and then tap to add it to your image. We hope you enjoy using these early versions of World Effects in Messenger to bring joy and delight to your communications, especially during this holiday time of year as we re-connect with friends and family and maybe even make new connections. As always, let us know what you think!

Posted by Messenger [2] on Tuesday, December 12, 2017

"World Effects technology enables you to drop 3D objects into your surroundings to capture and share fun moments with your family and friends," the Facebook post announcing the new feature [3] reads. "For example, add a 3D heart floating over someone's head and then try panning your phone's camera from side to side. Or use an arrow to point to an exact object or location in a panorama so your friend knows what you're referring to. Or better yet, add a new fun, celebratory robot to an otherwise every-day setting and spice things up a bit. (Hint: be sure to try the robot out with your phone's volume turned up — the robot plays three different kinds of music!)"

To get started with World Effect, simply open the camera in your Messenger app and scroll to the type of 3D image you'd like to drop in the scene — currently, you can choose from a heart, an arrow, a robot, several different word bubbles, and a unicorn — and then tap your screen to let it loose on the world. And here's a hot tip: there's no easier way to let a long-distance friend or family member know you're thinking about them than by sending them a video message (complete with 3D objects and all!) this holiday season — and if you're already messing around with Messenger, why not take the opportunity to have a little fun with it?


Source URL
https://www.popsugar.com/tech/How-Do-I-Use-Facebook-Messenger-World-Effects-3D-Objects-44358178