# @karenxcheng on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CgIcBD-j82u
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16472566-karenxcheng-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/88e634fdcc.jpg
- **Posted:** 2022-07-17T23:32:22.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Karen X (@karenxcheng) — https://gondola.cc/karenxcheng

## Caption

New AR filter! Commissioned for richardbranson for his 70th birthday 🎉 Collab with itsjakeberg banivfx donalleniii Client virginvoyages

If you try it out, tag me in your stories! Would love to see it out in the wild :)

Behind the scenes on our process
1) First I asked donalleniii for advice. When I had this idea I'd never made an AR filter before and wasn't sure if this was technically possible. I booked a consulting session with him and he got me started
2) Back in February I had a few minutes on set with richardbranson so I got a 3D model scan of him. I did this entirely using my iPhone btw and just having him stand still for about a minute (app: polycam3d)
3) banivfx rigged up and animated the model - they built the stairs and animated richardbranson running up them
4) itsjakeberg converted it into an AR filter, complete with a fully working trap door that works on any desk surface

Challenges
▸ We changed concepts a few times throughout this project. Originally, the design was meant to be hooked up to a printed physical image. But halfway through that got cut, so we pivoted to making the AR filter work on any surface
▸ I had just seen itsjakeberg brilliant "Sky is falling" filter where he makes a puzzle piece drop from the sky. Immediately I asked him if he could use the same logic to get a working trap door and HE DID 👏
▸ The first person who was hired to create the 3D model ended up not working out, so we had to start over and lost 2 weeks of development time. Then we brought on banivfx who really pulled through by creating everything in record time, it was awesome to see their process of bringing a 3D model to life
▸ Spark AR has a 4MB limit on filters (that means every single Instagram filter you've ever tried has to fit within 4 MB). And 4MB is tiny! It was definitely a challenge to get everything to fit in the limit but fortunately we had the help of donalleniii to compress all the textures. I hope to see Spark AR increase their file size limit soon

Director karenxcheng
3D modeling and animation banivfx
AR trap door itsjakeberg
AR advisor donalleniii
3D scanning app polycam3d

#augmentedreality #richardbranson

## Stats

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## Tags

richardbranson, augmentedreality

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