Facebook scouts for Indian developers for its augmented reality platform

In a bid to assume the lead among the tech giants in the augmented reality segment, social networking giant Facebook has opened up its AR Studio platform extensively to Indian developers, The Economic Times reported.

The major stimulant for the developers is access to the social networking giant’s 1.5 billion user base who will use these AR experiences through several Facebook apps, the report said.

Individual developers, movie studios and creative agencies have used the platform to build various AR effects, Satyajeet Singh, head of platform partnerships, Facebook India and South Asia, told ET.

In response to requests from designers from India and other emerging markets, Facebook is also launching a Windows version of the AR Studio later this year, added the report.

Facebook releases a new version of its AR platform every two weeks with new or improved capabilities. Some recent additions include hand tracking, improved face tracking and body tracking (in closed beta). It also added target tracking capabilities that can let creators use an image or poster as a target and link an AR effect with it.

One early adopter of the AR platform is an Indian digital marketing agency AliveNow, which has built AR effects for Future Group’s fashion retail outlet Central to allow for faster shopper checkouts, the ET report stated.

"This is probably one of the first times that we feel India is at par with the rest of the world in terms of technology. Hence, we work closely with a few partners to make sure they have the right information and support from us. At the same time, we are also receiving feedback to build new features and improve existing capabilities for AR Studio," Singh was quoted as telling ET.