Blippar, a London-based augmented reality (AR) content creation and publishing platform, today announced the integration of its no-code AR creation tool, Blippbuilder, into the enterprise communication and collaboration platform, Microsoft Teams. By giving Microsoft Teams’ 270 million monthly active users access the Blippbuilder platform, this integration will not only make it easier to create immersive AR experiences, but also allow users to collaborate and experiment with AR projects.

In an interview with Blippar CEO Faisal Galaria, VentureBeat asked how Blippar’s code-free AR platform could fit into the overall discussion of the metaverse. For Galaria, the promise of the metaverse, no matter how it manifests, is on a much larger scale than the limited “walled garden” digital worlds that currently exist.

According to Galaria, Blippar believes that the metaverse will be an evolution of the Internet, commonly known as Web2, in which millions and millions of pages and websites will coexist. He noted that Blippar’s content creation tools, Blippbuilder and the WebAR SDK, publish to the web, removing the friction of app downloads, logins, and “walled gardens,” allowing AR powered by Blippar to work everywhere.

AR goes mainstream

From 2005 to 2020, AR was considered an emerging technology in Gartner’s Hype Cycle, a graphical methodology used to monitor technology innovations and their growth. In 2021, in a study titled “Emerging Technologies: Emergence Cycle for Augmented Reality”, [subscription required] Gartner revealed that AR was removed from the cycle due to its rapid maturation. This is backed up by his report on the top strategic technology trends, where he predicted that a third of global companies would leverage AR to build their multi-experience platforms by 2021. What this means is that AR is no longer an experimental technology and can now be used .

Galaria agrees with Gartner, believing “the next generation of the Internet will be experiential, 3D, and immersive, rather than the small-screen-based Internet we’re all familiar with today.” This integration will ergo contribute to the adoption of AR across the industry, especially in the content creation space.

Features for AR content creation

Blippbuilder is a no-code AR builder that enables users with little or no coding experience to create simple, realistic, and immersive AR campaigns for personal or business use. Leveraging advanced artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and computer vision to deliver lighting estimation, image and surface tracking, asset compression, publishing, and streaming capabilities, Blippbuilder ensures that users only need concentrate on creating. Blippar claims that this integration will make it the “only augmented reality app that exists within the Teams ecosystem.”

Blippar’s patented surface detection, combined with its SLAM-enabled drag-and-drop functionality, will allow creators to drop objects into a project and publish it as-is. This will ensure that users can create interactive and immersive AR experiences regardless of their coding experience, according to Galaria. Users can participate in these experiences without interference from third-party hardware or mobile apps through a dedicated browser known as WebAR.

WebAR is compatible with smartphones and can be accessed from different social media platforms like WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook, WeChat, and Snapchat. Also included in Blippbuilder are tutorials and how-to guides designed to teach users how to take their AR projects from concept to content.

Features such as customizable cards, tooltips, single sign-on, notifications, starter projects, support features, and real-time interaction are expected to foster seamless collaboration and co-creation among team members, regardless of hierarchy. Blippbuilder can also be integrated into the existing workflow of Microsoft Teams users, allowing them to take advantage of AR’s powerful storytelling and immersion capabilities for their product packaging, ads, virtual products, and e-commerce product trials. , as well as 3D visualization, onboarding and training, and other 3D experiences.

Galaria reiterates that the “existing process for creating and publishing AR for small businesses, agencies, and brands is fragmented. Companies are forced to use multiple tools and services to support collaboration, feedback, reviews, updates, approvals, and project completion.” He added that by “introducing Blippbuilder into Microsoft Teams workflows, including team channels and group chats, Blippar is making it easier than ever for people to collaborate, create and share amazing augmented reality experiences with our partners in Microsoft Teams.” “.

After confirming that the metaverse is, in fact, one of the highly transformative trends shaping the AR industry, Galaria revealed that Blippar fosters futurism around the metaverse/space field. In addition, the company has also developed the 4 Cs of AR (creation, collaboration, cross-platform, and consumption) to establish the relevance of its no-code platform in democratizing AR creation and distribution.

Collaborative creation and authoring enabled by Microsoft Teams integration, the ability of Blippar-powered AR experiences to work across platforms, insights from AR glasses on AR consumption, and interoperability of tools of Blippar with third-party assets are combined to reinforce the company’s alignment with the principles of the metaverse.

More about Blippar

As one of the UK’s earliest tech unicorns, Blippar has an acclaimed portfolio of many world firsts in spatial computing and the AR industry. Blippbuilder, the built-in tool, is one of two different Blippar AR self-build tools that have helped over 100,000 users create and publish their AR experiences.

By combining Blippar’s authoring and publishing tools with the collaboration features of Microsoft Teams, Blippar says that decision makers will benefit from the values ​​of AR without the traditional constraints of high costs and rigid contracts.