Custom lenses not appearing in app

Roy

I've got CameraKit integrated into my iOS app - am able to load the sample lenses and record a video.


I've then followed documentation and published my first lense!


There is a specific part there about lense visibility:


https://docs.snap.com/snap-kit/camera-kit/getting-lenses-into-camera-kit#lens-visibility-settings


I initially tried creating a lense and selecting the Do not publish to Snapchat option. However, after I added it to a new lense group, it did not appear as one of the available lenses once I included the newly added lense group to the app.


I then tried creating another lense, this time I did publish it - and after approval, the same thing. The new lense group was also added to the app, but the lense itself did not appear.


To further troubleshoot, I included some sample lenses that are provied by snap as a part of the same lense group - those do appear in the app, however my custom made lenses do not for some reason.


I setup the CameraController just like as in the example, accept with my group ids:

let cameraViewController = SnapCameraViewController(cameraKit: cameraKit, captureSession: captureSession, repoGroups: [Constants.supercreatorBaseGroupId, Constants.kevinsBasegroupId])

Am i missing something here? How can I get the lenses I created and added into the app?

Ankit Baphna

Thanks @Roy for posting your questions. This is one of the common issues that developers face and reason for that being the incompatibility between newer versions of the Lens Studio with older Camera Kit SDK versions. This section of the doc - Lens Studio compatibility - will help you decide which Lens Studio and\or SDK version you should choose while developing. As a rule of thumb, you should not upgrade the Lens Studio version until you want to use the new features which are only available in newer versions of Lens Studio; and should always try using the latest version of Camera Kit SDK. I hope this gives you more clarity.

Having said that we are constantly working on making this easier for developers to develop and test with the right versions. We have added a “Min SDK Version” column against each Lens on the Camera Kit Portal. We are developing a feature to test a Lens in your application directly from Lens Studio, instead of Snapchat as the only option; and few more improvements.

If you are using compatible versions of SDK and Lens Studio but still not seeing the Lens in your app then please provide following information for us to debug further:

• Your application ID from Snap Kit developer portal
• Lens Id which is not showing up
• Camera Kit SDK version you are using

Thanks!
Camera Kit team

Roy

This was my issue! Working on downgrading Lens Studio now (struggling with finding where I can download older version though).

Thanks Ankit

@Ankit Baphna said:
Thanks @Roy for posting your questions. This is one of the common issues that developers face and reason for that being the incompatibility between newer versions of the Lens Studio with older Camera Kit SDK versions. This section of the doc - Lens Studio compatibility - will help you decide which Lens Studio and\or SDK version you should choose while developing. As a rule of thumb, you should not upgrade the Lens Studio version until you want to use the new features which are only available in newer versions of Lens Studio; and should always try using the latest version of Camera Kit SDK. I hope this gives you more clarity.

Having said that we are constantly working on making this easier for developers to develop and test with the right versions. We have added a “Min SDK Version” column against each Lens on the Camera Kit Portal. We are developing a feature to test a Lens in your application directly from Lens Studio, instead of Snapchat as the only option; and few more improvements.

If you are using compatible versions of SDK and Lens Studio but still not seeing the Lens in your app then please provide following information for us to debug further:

• Your application ID from Snap Kit developer portal
• Lens Id which is not showing up
• Camera Kit SDK version you are using

Thanks!
Camera Kit team

Roy

Update #1:

I was able to add new lenses via a "User Profile" source, to test out and see if it would work. I added a lense to the same Lense group which has been loaded into the app, and surprise - this new lense DOES appear.

Perhaps there needs to be some approval as a "lense developer" to have your lenses used by other users? What else could be preventing me from seeing the lenses I made, loaded in the camera kit sdk?

Roy

Update #2:

I then added another Lens from the same developer, however this time - this newly added lens DID not appear via app.

So now I've thoroughly troubleshot this issue and it appears to be Lens-related, not Lens group or Lens developer.

Help!

stevenxu

Update 08/01
There is now the ability to download older versions of Lens Studio if needed.

Visit: https://ar.snap.com/older-versions

Pico Alta

I am also having issues with custom lenses not showing up in lens groups. The test lenses are appearing in the groups.

Info

SnapKit Release 1.19.2
Lens Studio 4.40.0
Android build environment

What is interesting is that in the dashboard's Lens Groups the 'Min SDK Version' of the custom lens is 'Unknown', probably indicating that it is incompatible?

Going to test other versions of Lens Studio today to see if that fixes the issue.

Roy

@Pico Alta to save you time - my issue was the the lens was published by a version of Lens Studio which was not yet supported by the CameraKit sdk being used in the application.

As noted, there is a delay sometime between lens studio release and camera kit release. LMK if that helps!

Pico Alta

@Roy Thanks for your response! I cannot find seem to find what is the latest supported version of Lens Studio for Snapkit release 1.19.2. Is it somewhere in the docs? Lens studio 4.19 is working for me when I directly upload the baseball cap template. Going to try some more versions later

Pico Alta

Ok I just found the lens studio support list in the changelog. That took me a long time :')

stevenxu

Thanks for sharing @Roy

@Pico Alta Sorry it took so long Noted to make it easier to find in our docs and will make a forum FAQ post about it for future devs.

Here's a link to see the Camera Kit x Lens Studio support list:
https://docs.snap.com/camera-kit/guides/quick-start/build-manage-ar-content/lens-studio-compatibility#camera-kit-version-parity

Pico Alta

Thanks for your reply @stevenxu . I think most developers will look in the readme file first (at least I was looking there). If the latest supported lens studio could be mentioned in there that would be great!

stevenxu

@Pico Alta AH! Noted. Will share this as a feedback item for our eng and PM. thank you!