Becoming a Snapchat Lens Creator
Lessons Learned in Augmented Reality
It began as a freelance job. A local marketing agency was looking to build a Snapchat lens for a big name musician. Even though it was a white label job and I’d never be able to brag about it, I jumped at the opportunity. Work is work after all. There were, however, two wrinkles to doing this assignment:
- I didn’t know how to build a Snapchat lens
- I didn’t even know how to use Snapchat
These were trivial matters for me though, for a boot-strapping independent contractor like myself who enjoyed learning new things and not starving, for I subscribed to the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy of work assignments:
“When you are asked if you can do a job, tell ’em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.”
My professional background was 15 plus years spent in 3D animation and motion graphics. I was interested in learning how to build Augmented Reality experiences, but all the existing tools required programming knowledge that I didn’t have. With some trepidation, I downloaded Snapchat’s development software Lens Studio and got started. Given my past history with learning three different 3D animation software platforms, I was expecting a learning curve similar to a climb up Mount Everest. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the interface felt both familiar and intuitive. And after watching their tutorial and looking at an example project, I was able to build the lens for the client without too much screaming and pulling out my hair.
It was in the act of building this first lens that I had a revelation: I was really enjoying this.
So I kept going. I built several more on my own. There were no restrictions on creativity. Whatever I could think of and build into a lens, I could put out there in the world and let other people experience them. Want to turn someone into a skull and set their head on fire? I could do that. Regrettable face tattoo? I can do that as well.
Lenses went through an amazingly fast approval process and would be out there in the world within minutes after I submitted them. And I got analytics back showing how many people had tried out my creations. This was incredible, especially coming from a background in direct-to-video animation and self-publishing, where it took many months to build a project and longer still before it ever got out to the public– and in some rare, heart-breaking instances, never to be released at all.
It was a heady feeling going from working in relative obscurity to being able to see that two thousand strangers tried my lens. That’s a lot, right? That was amazing! These were the early days and my naivete was almost charming. I knew one thing: whatever this Snapchat lens creation thing was, I wanted more. I saw on the Lens Studio page that they offered some kind of elite certification for only the best lens creators. They were like Navy SEALs for augmented reality. The program also offered unique access to Snap and to the early builds of their software. I had no idea if I was good enough, but with wide-eyed optimism and almost no expectations, I followed a link on the Lens Studio page to apply to become an Official Lens Creator.
And maybe a week later, I got an email back that they wanted to set up an interview. I could not imagine what I was getting myself into.
