In the expansive world of augmented reality (AR), Lauren Schroeder emerges as a freelance creative technologist who uniquely combines digital creativity with immersive experience development. Her journey with 8th Wall began at the end of 2023, inspired by a demo at the SXSW popup that year. Lauren’s expertise spans a broad spectrum of digital creative technologies, from web-based experiences that are easily shareable online to using Unreal Engine for VR games and Touchdesigner for interactive physical installations.

Lauren’s approach is distinguished by her passion for exploring and expanding the realms of immersive experiences, constantly pushing the boundaries of what digital tools can achieve in AR and VR. She champions inclusivity and diverse perspectives in technology by building strong networks and collaborative relationships. One of her recent projects, themed around the winter solstice, showcases her skill in blending creative storytelling with sophisticated AR technology, engaging users in a global celebration of light and tradition.

We sat down with Lauren for a brief Q&A to learn more about her inspirations and expertise, the experiences she creates using 8th Wall, and her significant contributions to the AR community.  

How were you introduced to 8th Wall?
I started developing with 8th Wall at the end of 2023. I’d previously heard of 8th Wall as a popular solution for WebAR, and tried out a demo at the 2023 SXSW popup.

What would you say is your area of expertise?
Digital creative technologies. I love the challenge of augmenting the types of immersive experiences we can build and experience. I often make small creative experiences to see what different tools can do. I use web technologies to build experiences that can be easily shared online, or integrate unique visual experiences into a website. Unreal Engine has been great for building VR games and TouchDesigner for more physical interactive experiences.

While I enjoy collaborating on creative teams, it’s also fun to work on small projects where I can fully work across disciplines - tech, music, art, and UX.

How do web-based capabilities help you bring AR to the real world? 
While most people don’t own a VR headset, access to a computer or smartphone is common. Creating web-based experiences lets people very quickly begin an experience without the hassle of downloading an application. 8th Wall made it easy to quickly build AR experiences with the existing image recognition and geolocation sample projects. I’m currently exploring the Lightship VPS World Explorer sample project and testing its capabilities. 

What are your future goals with AR?  
I’m very interested in building more VR and AR experiences. I’ve recently been working on different ways of incorporating ‘music making’ into VR, and learning other optimization techniques. Between games, tools, experiences, and stories, I’m interested in all the ways VR could help create exciting and intuitive experiences. It feels like there are so many possibilities here.

What if any challenges have you overcome as a woman in the AR space?

I’m happy to say that I’ve generally found the AR space to be friendly and supportive. That said, women are not often represented in AR tech roles, both at large and small AR companies.

This can make it more likely for people to make assumptions about your role or skill set when meeting and networking. I’ve been able to overcome this by finding a good network of collaborators. Developing these working relationships and vouching for each other goes a long way in making the tech space more inclusive.

What’s a recent project that left you feeling inspired?

For the 8th Wall Holiday challenge, I created an experience themed around the winter solstice, and all of the different traditions celebrated around the world. Players use their phone camera to turn their fingers into a candle and catch different artifacts that are unified around the theme of light.

After learning about these different solstice traditions, I cut out some paper objects to scan and bring into a 3D A-frame environment. I used the 8th Wall hand effects module to turn hands into candles that can be used to capture different flying artifacts using 3D collision logic. The project left me inspired, and I’m looking forward to developing another project using 8th Wall that involves exploring some of the history of Austin, Texas.

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