Kung Fu Panda AR Lens (Snapchat)

Inspiration

I wanted to bring a beloved character to life in AR and give Snap's community something fun and shareable. Kung Fu Panda was the perfect fit: expressive, recognizable, and full of personality to translate into a lens.

What it does

A Snapchat AR lens that overlays a hand-built Kung Fu Panda scene onto the user in real time. The characters and props are anchored to the face and the world, reacting to head movement and expression so the effect stays locked to the user as they move.

How I built it

• Modeled and textured the 3D characters and props in Blender, then optimized the meshes and materials for mobile so the lens stays smooth on-device.
• Brought the assets into Lens Studio and set up real-time face tracking and world tracking so the scene follows the user naturally.
• Scripted the interactions and animation triggers in JavaScript, tuning timing and responsiveness for a believable, playful feel.

Challenges I ran into

Keeping high-quality 3D models inside Snap's tight performance budget meant aggressive mesh and texture optimization without losing the character's look. Getting the tracking to stay stable across lighting conditions and fast movement also took a lot of iteration.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

The lens reached 28,000+ views, 18,000+ plays, and 1,700+ shares across Snap's platform. That is real reach from real users.

What I learned

How to take a 3D asset from Blender all the way to a performant, tracked, interactive AR experience, and just how much optimization matters on mobile.

What's next for Kung Fu Panda AR Lens

More characters, richer interactions, and gesture-driven triggers.

Built With

• 3d-modeling
• ar
• blender
• face-tracking
• javascript
• lens-studio
• snapchat