AR

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part of Creative Technology · tier 2 · Interactive · 0 pieces of work carry it · 4 crafts it is confused with

The craft, and who hires it

Hired for AR product try-ons and demos, social lenses that carry a campaign, and in-store or packaging AR layers — letting shoppers see and interact with the product in their own space; sold under 'immersive'/'experience' service lines.

Developing augmented-reality experiences that overlay interactive digital elements on the user's real-world view — social lenses and filters, WebAR, in-app AR try-on and visualization, and headset AR. The craft combines real-time tracking (face/surface/world) with 3D content that sits registered in real space.

Tag it when…

Tag when the work is a functioning AR build or its record: a live camera feed with tracked digital overlays, phone-held or headset views where synthetic elements stay locked to faces, surfaces, or the world, and the user moves/interacts in real time.

Never tag it when…

Never tag compositing or CG added to filmed footage in post — that goes to Mixed Media › Visual Effects (AR is real-time and user-held; VFX is rendered into the film). Fully synthetic surround environments go to VR. Screen interactivity without a camera-overlay layer goes to Web / Interactive Development or Interactive Installations. A film that merely depicts someone using AR, with no AR build being showcased, is film craft (subject ≠ craft; content_type never decides).

Easily mistaken for 4 other crafts

Every other page suggests neighbours by similarity. This one navigates by difference: each line names the craft this is confused with, and the rule for telling them apart.

• creative technology vr — AR overlays digital onto the real world (camera passthrough visible); VR replaces the world entirely with a synthetic environment. Reality visible = AR; reality gone = VR.
• mixed media visual effects vfx (Mixed Media › Visual Effects) — CG integrated into footage during post, watched linearly = VFX; CG registered live in a user-held camera view, interactive = AR.
• creative technology interactive installations — An AR magic-mirror or camera wall in a physical venue carries BOTH: Interactive Installations for the physical build, AR for the overlay technology. Handheld/personal-device AR alone = AR only.
• design 3d design (Design › 3D Design) — Modeling the 3D assets that feed an AR experience is 3D Design craft; delivering the tracked real-time experience is AR — co-tag when both are evidenced.

At what size it applies

ASSET when the item IS the AR experience or its dedicated case record; MOMENT when an AR beat (a lens demo, a try-on sequence) appears as a segment inside a broader brand film.

Where to look next

• The whole services tree — the services index.
• Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
• How work gets credited to a craft — the entities chapter.