How To Use AI To Make Brilliant Branded AR Filters [in 2024]

Hello! I’m Paul, and I run Gloam, a leading AR agency creating brilliant, climate-positive AR Filters for Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and WebAR.

We’ve delivered campaigns for brands including NBA, Beats by Dre, ESPN, Hitachi, Nissan, FIFA, Marks & Spencer, Gorillaz, McLaren, and many others, from charities to global music artists.

You can try some of them at www.gloam.io

As augmented reality (AR) continues to become more popular, it's important for brands to leverage this technology to enhance their marketing efforts. One effective way to do this is by creating branded AR Filters. With the help of AI, creating these filters has become more accessible and efficient than ever before. In this post, I'll take you through the process of making a brilliant AR Filter for Eurovision 2023 using AI.

Step 1: Artwork Concepts with AI for our branded AR filter

The first step in creating a branded AR Filter is to come up with artwork concepts that fit the brand. AI can help with this process by generating a range of potential designs based on specific prompts. This saves a lot of time and can help you quickly narrow down your options. For these concepts I used Open AI's Midjourney, with the prompt 'Eurovision mascot 2023, cuddly, must like music!'

Midjourney: FREE for 25 images per month / $10 for 200 images per month

Step 2: 3D modelling with Blender

Once you've chosen your winning concept, the next step is to turn the 2D concept into 3D. Blender is an open-source 3D modelling software that can help you create complex designs with ease. You can use AI to speed up this process by generating base 3D models that can be easily manipulated to fit your desired design. For our Eurovision Mascot I used the sculpting tool to copy the winning reference image as closes as possible.

Blender: FREE

Step 3: Texturing with Adobe Substance Painter

After the 3D model has been created, it's time to add textures and colours to bring it to life. Adobe Substance Painter is an awesome texturing software that can create realistic materials and effects for your AR Filter. With AI, you can even automate some of the texturing process, which can save you a lot of time.

Adobe's Substance Painter: £16 per month

Step 4: Rigging with mixamo

To make your AR Filter more interactive, you can rig it with free Mixamo. Rigging is the process of adding bones to your 3D model, which allows you to animate it. There are 100s of preset dance moves and character animations to choose from on Mixamo.

With AI, you can generate base rigging structures that can be easily adapted to fit your specific model. Rokoko let's you turn your own movements into animated 3D models.

Adobe's Mixamo: FREE

Step 5: Creating the AR Filter with TikTok's Effect House

Finally, it's time to turn your 3D model into an AR filter. TikTok's Effect House is a platform that allows you to create custom AR filters for TikTok. With AI, you can automate the process of adapting your 3D model to fit the filter's requirements, making the process much faster and more efficient.

TikTok's Effect House: FREE [you can also make AR Filters for Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat for free]

Watch the full AI X AR tutorial video here.

And that's it! By using AI, you can not only create brilliant AR Filters, you streamline your workflow and make the whole creative process a lot of fun.

If you’re still here, thanks for reading. And if you have any questions feel free to email me at paul@gloam.io.