TikTok now lets anyone make their own AR filters

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TikTok’s newest tool, Effect House, lets you create your own AR effects. It’s the latest tool in the arsenal of budding creators and shows that AR is here to stay.

Effect House has been in beta testing since the middle of last year. It allows you to make your own AR camera effects, which can then be used by other creators. Yes, that’s very similar to Snapchat’s Lens Studio, the other big AR social media tool.

Effect House is more than just a creation tool. Full of learning resources, it’s a publishing suite for AR effects. It uses the latest AR tools like advanced tracking, rich interactions, and the ability to preview effects.

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@tiktok Now anyone can create vibrant effects for TikTok. Welcome to Effect House #effecthouse ♬ original sound – TikTok

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AR effects will need to stay within some community standards to be approved for use. That includes things like promoting colorism or depicting cosmetic surgery, such as lip fillers.

The company isn’t going to wait for users to report AR effects, instead, the Trust and Safety team will review every single submitted AR effect. TikTok will only include effects that meet the guidelines.

AR creation tools are here to stay. Meta has Spark AR Studio, which enables AR filter creation to be used on Facebook or Instagram and Snapchat opened up Lens Studio to every creator back in 2018, way ahead of the curve.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.