Samsung’s AR-emoji has been around for a few years. The app is constantly being updated and the company brought it back to the podium at SDC22 last month. But what exactly is AR Emoji? And why should you care or use it? Today we will try to answer these questions and give you a few usage scenarios for AR Emoji.
The following description may have been grossly simplified, but essentially you can think of AR Emoji as an app that allows you to create custom 3D avatars. We’ll explain the usage later, but now know that you can create 3D avatars that look like you or don’t have any of your features. While AR Emoji allows you to create 3D avatars based on photos of yourself, it’s ultimately up to you how you want these 3D avatars to look.
Why make a 3D avatar with AR Emoji?
When you think of AR Emoji, it’s not about whether you “should” use it to create a 3D avatar. Honestly, you could ignore this app and still have a complete One UI experience on your Galaxy phone.
While AR Emoji has tons of features — some of which work better than others — it’ll come in handy if you like the idea of creating custom stickers that you can later use when texting in social media apps or when texting. creating files in Samsung Notes or similar word processors. Or if you want to create custom call/lock screen videos based on a virtual representation of yourself or another person/character. Essentially you can make your own Samsung Sam-like avatar.
If you ever played “The Sims” on your PC and enjoyed creating and customizing characters, AR Emoji is in the same ballpark – albeit without the video game element. So instead of playing with these avatars in a virtual neighborhood or dollhouse-like environment, AR Emoji lets you turn them into custom stickers and videos.
If this sounds fun or interesting, here’s everything you need to know to start experimenting with 3D avatars on your Samsung Galaxy device.
Creating Your First AR Emoji 3D Avatar
The tool that allows you to create 3D avatars on your Galaxy device is called “AR Emoji Studio” and can be accessed through the AR Zone app. If you can’t find AR Zone in your apps drawer, you can access it in the “More” section of the “Camera” app.
Once you open AR Emoji Studio within AR Zone, you have the option to choose from template avatars (you can swipe left or right to scroll between them) or create a 3D avatar based on a selfie photo.
With the basic model set up, you can start customizing the avatar to your liking, using different hairstyles, facial hair options, skin tones, head nose and ear shapes, makeup styles, clothing styles, and prosthetics.
You can also design your own clothes for your avatars with different shapes, colors, patterns and decorations. And you can make them wear different accessories, including a ring in the shape of the Galaxy Z Flip 4. The customization options can get to ridiculous levels at times, but that’s one of the fun parts of AR Emoji Studio.
When you’re done customizing your AR Emoji character, tap “Next one” in the top right corner of the screen. You are now ready to create stickers and videos with your 3D avatar!
REMARK: In our experience, the selfie-based avatar creation feature — and pretty much everything related to the AR camera in AR Emoji — doesn’t work too reliably. You could almost separate the AR camera component from AR Emoji and see it as another side of the app. Indeed, we’ll ignore the AR camera component in this guide and focus instead on custom avatars, stickers, and avatar-based video creations. But feel free to explore the other facets of the app at your leisure.
Create AR Emoji stickers and videos for your call/lock screen
Now that you have an AR Emoji 3D character, you will be given several options such as: “Camera” for AR camera features (which we will again ignore in this guide), create stickers, call screens and videos on the lock screen.
To create stickers, tap the stickers option at the top. AR Emoji already has some ready-made stickers ready for you to use in messaging apps, social media or your documents.
REMARK: You can access AR Emoji stickers with just a tap on the screen from the Samsung Keyboard toolbar. U.S Samsung Keyboard Guide includes instructions for setting up and customizing your toolbar, so feel free to check it out if you want to add an AR Emoji shortcut to your keyboard for easy access.
Now, on to the last fun part – making videos with your 3D avatar. To create a custom video with your 3D avatar, select “Make video” on the main screen of AR Emoji Studio. Here you will see several animations and visual effects to choose from (although you will need to download them individually by tapping their icons). When you’re ready to make your video, tap “Save.” You can then use this video from your 3D avatar for call screens or video lock screen feature. We have described the latter in our One UI 5.0 Lock Screen Video Wallpaper Guide.
