To get 2021 off to a good start, TikTok is launching an ultra-realistic effect. But not everyone will be able to benefit from it …
TikTok launches an effect with the help of the iPhone 12 Pro’s LiDar
Happy New Year 2021! This is the occasion that TikTok has chosen to unveil a new function of its application with mirror ball and party favors. Everything is virtual, but with guaranteed effects.
This is actually a new augmented reality filter that is added to the mobile application. It allows you to celebrate the transition to 2021 in style, by making a ball appear on your ceiling which counts down before releasing inflatable balloons in the shape of a number and throwing golden papers on the floor. But there, the confetti is deposited perfectly on the people, the sofa, the ground while falling and not only in rain in front of you.
To ring in 2021 we released our first AR effect on the new iPhone 12 Pro, using LiDAR technology which allows us to create effects that interact with your environment – visually bridging the digital and physical worlds. We’re excited to develop more innovative effects in 2021! pic.twitter.com/6yFD2FfHta
– TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) January 6, 2021
LiDAR, the sensor that takes your measurements
And this extremely realistic effect, TikTok owes it to the prowess of LiDAR, the photo sensor of the iPhone 12 Pro which calculates the distance between the device and a subject in particular thanks to a rapid round trip of a light beam. This is particularly useful for augmented reality by adjusting the real-time measurement between elements. LiDAR is used in particular to place virtual furniture in your room, position a painting on the wall or clothes on someone.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max with its three photo sensors and its LiDAR sensor // Gamesdone: Frandroid / Arnaud GELINEAU
Bad news therefore for some who already dreamed of Happy New Year videos (admittedly a little late, but we have all the month of January to wish each other!): The effect is in fact only reserved for iPhone owners 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max which have the LiDAR sensor.
Social networks, first seduced
TikTok is not the first app to harness the performance of LiDAR. Snapchat quickly drew its filter when the iPhone 12 Pro was released last fall. The little ghost had opted for the creation of a poetic environment, with flowers and birds.
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Still little used by applications, the LiDAR sensor nevertheless promises enormous photo possibilities on the two high-end iPhones, especially for portraiture and night photography. It is also used for person detection for visually impaired people, but it still struggles to go beyond the “Apple” functions. The help of networks and applications very popular with the most frequent users, the multiplication of videos and photos on social networks, can be a rewarding boost that the firm of Tim Cook will not deny.