Creator Spotlight: Ryan Matthew Shields

Creator from 🇺🇸 United States

Hi, Ryan! Please, tell us something about yourself.

I have been creating AR for about a month now and am currently trying to learn blender.

How many effects have you created so far and for which platforms?

Right now around 6 are public for Snapchat.

Name the best effects you created and briefly describe them.

My best effects are my Space Miner, Fire and Ice, and my RainCloud.

Space Miner lens uses Material Editor in Snapchat to create a hologram effect on the helmet and creates the sense that light is shining from the lights on the mask. Using an envimap and color correction I create the sense that you in space with the world becoming darker and the helmet reflecting stars. When you turn the filter around you are met with a robot that you can trace a path for. This then animates the robot as he follows the path

My Fire and Ice lens showcases Snapchats Material editor to the max. Using it I am able to create almost all the effects in the lens including the snow, fire, lava, ice, and the crystallization on the butterflies. Envimaps help give the sense that the ice and lava are flowing while the eye texture and butterflies help polish off the lens

Finally, my RainCloud lens is one of my first AR lenses. I used low poly clouds and placed them near the face while trying to mimic the sense of water flowing down the face mask. Then I added falling rain particles and dark color correction. I tagged lens list and you guys responded inspiring me to make it even better. I then created clouds that are activated when you switch to the back camera. They are located around the person and stay stationary while the camera looks up at them. I then added a UI button that would switch the envimaps so it looked like the clouds had lighting in them.

Which platform for creating AR filters is your favourite and why?

Lens studio is the easiest for me only because I started with it in March and I am currently learning blender.

What in your opinion makes an AR effect successful?

One that captivates the audience. Especially one that reacts to the audience whether with chain physics, UI or really anything else that makes them feel apart or immersed in it.