Lens Creator Guide
This document will guide you through the process of importing Lenses from Lens Studio to your Snap Camera Server.
Please note that some filters are not compatible with Snap Camera.
Compatibility depends heavily on the Lens Studio version and the lens features used.
If a Lens is created in a version that is not compatible with the version of Camera Kit SDK being used, the Lens will not appear in the app!
You can find an overview of incompatible features here:
Lens Studio Compatibility
The safest version that is known to always work is Lens Studio 4.36
You should especially Update Snap Camera (Unofficial), if your Lenses are published with:
- Lens Studio >=4.4x
- Lens Studio 5.x.
- Go to: https://my-lenses.snapchat.com/camera-kit
- Log-in or Sign-up for a new developer account
- Navigate to the Apps section
- Click on the Enable App button
- Click the Select App dropdown box
- Choose + Create App
- Pick any name for your web app
- Select Web as your target platform
- Confirm your app in the next step by ticking the checkboxes
- Click the Enable button
Your app will be created and you will be redirected to the overview page
Now you need to copy your Staging API Token
And paste the string to BRIDGE_API_TOKEN in your .env file
###########################
# For Lens Creators
###########################
# Lens creators require an official API token in order to access their own lenses
#
# Get your own API token at:
# https://my-lenses.snapchat.com/camera-kit
#
# 1. Sign-in/Register
# 2. Create a new 'Web App'
# 3. Copy&Paste 'Staging API Token' below
#
BRIDGE_API_TOKEN=It should look something like this:
BRIDGE_API_TOKEN=ceChH4Jc8Bwy7iQAM1tafzdPJs0RwhTmkLU9XXfrhvjMt6ydM7EgR6OzoAk604zRyjyq6BriXupzbMts3eppTUr1yBYLA8ReoJPHNote: It's just a random string example not an actual API Token!
You can now start the Docker Server with:
docker compose --profile creator up This will load and start an additional Docker container camera-kit-bridge to import Lenses from your Snapchat account.
Searching for Lens Group ID's is not possible if the camera-kit-bridge container is not running.
Once you activate your Lenses inside Snap Camera, they are fully imported.
You can search them regulary by name, ID or URL after activation.
If you want to use Creator Mode again, you can start the camera-kit-bridge container from Docker Desktop or re-run the command.
You can rename the file docker-compose.override.creator.yml to docker-compose.override.yml (removing the .creator part).
This will make camera-kit-bridge start automatically everytime the Server is started either by you or by auto config tools.
You must group your lenses together with the Lens Scheduler
You can create a New Lens Group and add multiple or single Lenses to them.
If your Lenses are not showing up for selection you have to put them in Lens Folders first (see the next step 2.2).
After putting them in Lens Folders you can add the folders under the Lens Sources tab.
You can follow the official Snapchat Guide for more detailed Information
Manage Lenses for Camera Kit
To make your Lenses available under Lens Scheduler follow the official Snapchat Guide.
Clicking on any Lens Group will enable you to view and copy the Lens Group ID
You should now be able to paste the Lens Group ID into the search bar of your Snap Camera application. Your lenses should show up after a short moment.
Activate your Lenses to make them persistent in your Server.
Once activated you can search them regulary by name, ID or URL.
If a Lens is created in a version that is not compatible with the version of Camera Kit SDK being used, the Lens will not appear in the app!
The following information may be useful, especially if you are having problems
- Build Lenses in Lens Studio
- Upload Lenses for Camera Kit
- Manage Lenses for Camera Kit
- Lens Studio Compatibility
If you made it this far, you can consider yourself a ...
