Snap adds ray tracing option to Lenses in Snapchat

Social media company Snap adds ray tracing to the SDK for Lenses in Snapchat. The capability will allow developers to make digital objects that users can view look more realistic, the company says.

The function is especially useful for Lenses that focus on shopping and jewelry, for example, Snap says. Thanks to the new function, they can reflect light in a more realistic way and therefore look more real in the Lens.

A Lens is a filter that can add objects and effects to the camera image in Snapchat. Snap introduced the Lens feature years ago and now there are three million different Lenses to choose from in the app.

Ray tracing has been a known feature in games for several years and generally requires heavy video cards. The Snap feature is much lighter and can run on phones as a result. The feature works in the Lens Studio developer software and is available on iOS and Android. The function works on iPhones from the iPhone 11 and on Android phones, including the Galaxy S20, S21 and S22 phones, as well as the Pixel 6 and 7 and OnePlus 8 devices.