Inspiration
When I was conceiving a theme for this project, I wanted something that genuinely brought joy to the person using it. It could've been a funny filter but I wanted something more heartfelt. If the filter turns out right, then this will be an inclusive filter for amputees and for other people to experience and feel whole.
What it does
When using this filter, a user simply has to raise their hand and the filter will overlay a prosthetic hand.
How we built it
The first stage after conception was familiarizing myself with the Lens Studio application. The first few days were familiarizing myself well enough with the details of Lens Studio. Afterward, I decided to go forward on a texture that I would be happy with as my prosthetic hand. Understanding the importance of node relationships, I was able to make a texture I was happy enough with.
The bulk of the project was then progressed on Blender. I had the tracking assets necessary from the template to track a hand, now I needed a custom model to replicate the image of a prosthetic hand.
Building a base model I was happy to put this project under, I incorporated it back into Lens Studio and overlaid that on the hand rigs.
Challenges we ran into
Being completely novice to Lens Studio and then later blender, I imaginably ran into a lot of head-aching moments. The Lens Studio program was the friendlier of the two, I had fewer issues navigating it and the most difficult portion was understanding what assets to import.
Blender provides the most straining to learn. I had no idea to make a model and it took time to figure out the application to construct a model. The model-making was more of a rinse-repeat process. The main problems arose attaching my made prosthetics over the default hands provided by snapchat. Once I understood the process of porting my left hand over the default left hand, it went smoothly. However, upon similar application to my right hand, the joints worked in an unintentional manner: flexing one finger would bend the other's proportions rather than keep some rigid shape.
The key to this solution: is weight painting. Upon this solution, it was more trial and error before I had an acceptable armature and movement to move over.
These problems were resolved I had a working alpha version.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Learning the capacity of the blender and how rigging mixes with the tracking side on Snapchat.
What we learned
Now finished with the raw structure of the project, I have confidence in basic blender skills to map out future models in any Snapchat filters made from here on out.
What's next for Mirrored Arm / Hand
Given time, I hope to integrate a whole arm prosthetic that extends beyond just the hand. This could be an extension or a separate filter altogether. Being in the initial stages, the project models are very novice, but I am satisfied with them as presented—showing the potential of a fully mapped-out prosthetic hand.
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