There are no AR creators on the market. Who are they? And who is becoming one?

Hi! You know that my team and I have been working with augmented reality technology for 8 years now. In 2020, before it became mainstream, we launched our webAR platform MyWebAR by Devar. The platform is now used by creators from 200 countries, more than 200 educational institutions, and a large number of famous brands.

Quite imperceptibly (well, almost), there was a technological revolution in the AR technology industry. If previously, the content was created by whole groups of specialists, including designers, animators, programmers, application developers, and producers, etc., now, everyone can create content for product packaging, books, clothes, and art projects, even if they do not belong to any of the above professions.

By creating the platform MyWebAR by Devar, we democratized the technology as much as possible. Now users can create content for their products, stores, or businesses on their own. And they only pay for a subscription to a service that brings their content to life in augmented reality. That is all. No more apps, no more fees for model development, and complicated animations. If we don’t have the right models in our library, my team and I have compiled a list of tools for AR content creation: users can create 3D models, animate them, and then bring them to us for AR.

But as of 2022, we regularly face the problem of staffing gaps, a very specific problem of specific staffing. It turns out that there are virtually no AR creators on the market. No, of course, there is a separate category of creators who work with augmented reality on social media: Snapchat, Facebook/Instagram, TikTok. They create filters and masks with AR. There are real stars among such creators, and they have their own ratings. You’ve probably encountered them while trying out viral masks that have reached millions of people around the world.

But I’m talking about the versatile AR creators who understand what AR projects should look like for business and marketing. They know how to work in webAR or applications. Of course, there are specialists in production studios and digital agencies. Usually, these specialists grow out of 3D artists, animators, and designers. But it is very difficult to find them on the freelance market.

Let me give you a simple example: we often attend events and exhibitions, share our materials with AR, show our business cards alive, and more and more often, we receive questions: “Can I make a business card like that?”

Such a business card with AR content can be made in about 10–15 minutes.

Friends, we don’t have an answer. This is because our business is structured differently now: for large projects with brands, we assign a production team, and for specialist requests, we have a no-code platform for creating AR content on the web. There, everyone can easily create a business card for themselves. Believe me, it is very easy. We do not have special AR creators for small projects.

But not everyone, for example, a jeweler from India, a marketing specialist at a shoe company, or the owner of a small interior design company from Slovenia, is ready to put off their business and sit down to learn how to create projects in AR.

Obviously, there is a deficit of ready-made specialists who can fulfill such small requests.

What are the perspectives of the new profession?

While we were preparing our material, we found several online marketplaces where AR creators can register as freelancers.

Obviously, there is a shortage of specialists available to handle small AR content requests.

While we were preparing our material, we found several online marketplaces where AR creators can register as freelancers.

There, the pay depends on several factors:

• type of content (social media filters, use of apps/web);
• AR content creation;
• complexity of AR applications;
• software licenses.

Take note of the figures we discovered:

- using AR filters — from $500 per project,

- using webAR — from $10,000.

Over the past six months, we have grown accustomed to receiving requests from clients such as: ‘How can I learn to create AR projects? What if I’m not a designer? Please help me acquire AR skills quickly.

It seems logical that people today should strive to acquire new professions and skills quickly.

But what does the future hold for the industry?

Before we talk about the perspectives of the new profession, let’s look at what is happening with AR technology?

If we study news resources, especially non-industry ones, we will see a huge number of headlines about Meta’s “failed” experiments with metaverses. But as soon as we dive into the professional media — you will see great events, bringing us closer to the future. With or without Meta, the future is coming right now.

• In the case of Meta, the Quest ecosystem, which the corporation is building, is being actively developed.
• The competition between Apple and Samsung — both giants are planning to release AR glasses as soon as this year. We wait.
• In general, there have been a huge number of announced releases for mixed reality glasses in 2022: Sony’s PS VR2, HTC’s Vive Flow 2. Even Niantic has announced a desire to release its AR glasses.
• A race among chipmakers to develop AR/VR goggle engines.
• A racing of new metaverses among famous and start-up brands.

It’s important to realize that if AR glasses become available soon, AR content will become ubiquitous. AR content will be literally everywhere. Here I want to quote Scott Belsky, entrepreneur, founder of the popular social media platform Behance for designers and illustrators, and now product director at Adobe: “I actually would go on the record saying that I think someday AR will be as big, if not bigger, than the Web because it will literally be everywhere.”

I absolutely agree, AR will become the new Internet. Incidentally, these same words were said by Tim Cook.

How do you become an AR creator?

We’ve created a no-code platform for AR content called MyWebAR, but we understand that it’s not enough to provide just a tool. You need knowledge and techniques to make successful and effective AR products.

Keeping in mind the market’s request for AR specialists, and combining our 8 years of experience, mistakes, victories, and results, we have created a practical course for creators. It is the first step, but it is very important.

Project2084 is the first online course from us, who are in love with immersive technologies and have collected the best practices for their application in business.

In just one month of intensive classes and practical lessons, our students will become real pros in AR and will be able to create AR cases for any business. The course has everything that beginner and experienced AR creators need. We’ve packed all of Devar’s years of experience into this course.

Of course, as technology ambassadors, we couldn’t not do it in AR. That’s why some of the classes take place exactly in augmented reality.

A little bit of numbers:

• 1 month is the total duration of the course;
• 33 lessons and exercises — believe me, it’s a very intense program;
• 3 most popular types of tracking, plus work with avatars;
• 7 individual AR projects our students will add to their portfolios;
• 6 months after finishing the course, students will have unlimited access to the MyWebAR platform and the opportunity to create an unlimited number of new AR projects.

At the end of the course, students will receive an international Devar certificate. Our experts will give recommendations for employment to the most active and talented participants.

In addition, as part of the course, I’m recruiting a small group in which I will personally share industry insights, help develop a strategy for businesses to use AR for their goals, and become a kind of AR mentor for companies that will join us. It’s a small group because it’s not just a formality for me. I know how to make AR a really effective and working element for businesses. And I really want as many companies as possible to share this vision. After all, then millions of ordinary people will also change something in their lives by entering the world of immersive technologies and creating the best AR products.

You can read about the course itself and join here — Project 2084.

We sincerely welcome each new user and project, as it also means the value of what we do. We’re not waiting for AR glasses to come out; we’re making AR available to the 5 billion people who use smartphones today.

Join us, learn a new profession, and let’s change the world together by creating the future today.

It’s going to be awesome, I promise.