Facebook CEO Zuckerberg Shares His Vision For AR, VR

Zuckerberg announced that today will see the beta launch of an open AR platform through a new camera function of the app that will allow developers to create their own filters and frames. There is much more than just Augmented Reality. Facebook will introduce an Augmented Reality mode to the camera in messenger, which will layer connected content on top of the world around you.

Today is the first day of the Facebook Developer Conference, F8.

The Facebook boss described the previous rollout of camera functionality across all of Facebook’s apps as “act one”. “But we’re going to give this another go”, Messenger boss David Marcus said.

But that doesn’t mean it is impossible. But in the last couple of years, we’ve started to see primitive examples of AR on phones in the camera.

The Facebook Annual Conference envisions a virtual reality future for Facebook, launches a Facebook Spaces app for Oculus users. The environment offers users tools to make it easier to create augmented reality scenes like masks and other overlays that react to the scene around them.

Imagining this isn’t too hard as Pokemon Go has showed the world what AR actually looks and feels like.

“This isn’t just about finding a Pokemon in a one-block radius”, he said. We use cookies to improve your browsing experience.

A few developers have had early access to Camera Effects, including Giphy, which designed a thought bubble that can hover above your head while you’re filming yourself to let your friends know what you’re thinking. As and when more developers join the program, there will be more stuff on the lines of AR to explore.

He also shared what future AR innovations could look like.

“It’s going to take a while to develop. To keep you in the experiences for longer”, said IDC analyst John Jackson.

Zuckerberg said people could use the technology to leave a virtual note for a friend at a bar, or to find virtual street art on a wall that in real life is blank. Well, using smartphones as the way to make AR commercially useful is a great plan, but it comes at the cost of awkwardness.

Facebook’s revamped Messenger QR codes (which are still not popular) could be scanned at concerts, games events or other events and, after you’ve scanned them, a Messenger bot will pop up to provide you with more information.

“This will all go into the glasses that we want”. Facebook’s Oculus team is using a technique known as simultaneous location and mapping to help with motion tracking for a prototype untethered VR headset. You can play pretend to go shopping together or celebrate a birthday party, providing you are a good person with harmless intentions as the majority of Facebook users.

Nevertheless, it is AR’s potential that most excites Zuckerberg and developers.

Sure, the technology is cool, I guess, but who actually wants something like this?