Mysterious job postings hint at Snapchat’s 3D future

Snapchat has 3D in its sights. Nearly a dozen listings by parent company, Snap Inc., reveal the ephemeral social network is looking to create game-like ‘3D characters’ for the platform. What this means, we can’t know for sure, but it does leave the door open for speculation; we’re going to walk through.

The job listings detail a search for those with expertise in 3D character animation and game design, including those who can “digitally sculpt 3D characters.” It goes on to say that these roles will “play an important role in shaping how Snapchat tells visual stories.”

We know from the release of Spectacles that Snap Inc. has augmented reality in its future. There’s no clear-cut wording in the title to suggest a Pokémon-like game, so the most obvious fit seems to be in Snap Inc.’s $100 million acquisition: Bitstrips.

After the acquisition, Snapchat started allowing users to use Bitmoji in messages and the app’s paid geofilters. You can add further detail to the big picture by factoring in another recent acquisition — computer vision company ‘Seene’ — and a new feature addition in ‘World Lenses.’ It’s still not clear at this point, but it seems the additional manpower in the 3D department would be best suited for creating 3D avatars under the Bitmoji brand.

For the user, this means a more realistic version of an increasingly-popular feature. Or, Snap Inc. could have something entirely new up its sleeve; we’re really just guessing at this point.

via Business Insider