Inspiration
The idea for Ghost Camera AR came from wanting a fun, visual, and interactive way to bring Halloween horror into everyday spaces. I was inspired by AR filters, horror movies, and the excitement people get from jump scares. I wanted to create an app where anyone could experience a supernatural moment right through their phone camera.
What it does
Ghost Camera AR uses augmented reality overlays to place ghosts, shadows, demons, and flickering figures into the user’s environment. The app includes horror filters—fog, glitch, night-vision, blood smears—and jump-scare animations that appear randomly. Users can record videos, take pictures, and share their haunted moments.
How we built it
The project was built using:
AR Foundation / ARCore for real-time tracking
Unity for rendering ghosts, animations, and environment effects
Custom shaders for fog, distortion, and glitch filters
2D/3D assets designed to match a horror aesthetic
UI built with dark themes, CRT-style buttons, and flickering icon effects
The workflow included creating ghost models, blending them into real environments, tuning animations, and testing lighting so the ghosts feel naturally placed in the user’s surroundings.
Challenges we ran into
Calibrating AR tracking so ghosts appear stable and realistic.
Making glitch and fog effects performant on lower-end devices.
Balancing the jump-scare timing—scary enough but not annoying.
Creating UI animations that look “haunted” without becoming distracting.
Getting ghost transparency and blending right, especially in low-light scenes.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Creating a convincing haunted environment with smooth AR overlays.
Designing filters that completely change the mood of the camera.
Achieving believable ghost animations that feel alive and unpredictable.
Crafting a UI that matches the horror theme with CRT glitches and flickers.
Building a fun, shareable experience perfect for Halloween content.
What we learned
How AR tracking interacts with lighting and shadows.
Techniques for layering VFX on top of camera feeds.
The importance of UI motion for setting atmosphere.
How small audio cues drastically increase immersion.
The value of testing on multiple devices to maintain performance.
What's next for Helloween
Adding more ghost types, animations, and seasonal characters.
Introducing AI-generated ghost placements based on room layout.
Creating multiplayer “ghost hunt” mode.
Adding story-based AR experiences for longer, cinematic scares.
Building a gallery of community-created scares and videos.
Releasing a “Haunted Map” mode where users can place ghosts in real locations.
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