YouTube expands access to a new ‘Effect Maker’ feature for Shorts creators
Creators can now make their own AR-style effects for YouTube Shorts.
YouTube is giving Shorts creators a new way to stand out. The platform is rolling out a new Effect Maker tool, letting more creators design and publish their own interactive effects for Shorts. As Music Ally notes, it’s similar to TikTok’s Effect House or Snapchat’s Lens Studio that lets creators make their own AR filters.
What is Effect Maker?
Effect Maker is a web-based tool (currently desktop-only) that allows creators to build AR-style effects for Shorts. These can be simple and fun filters, or more complex interactive characters and scenes.
Once published, effects can be used by any eligible creators that use Shorts via YouTube’s desktop Studio. That means your effect could end up featured in front of billions.
The tool was announced on one of YouTube’s latest ‘Creator Insider’ videos by Lauren Fendel, a program manager at YouTube:
“Over the past year we’ve been experimenting with and slowly expanding a new web-based tool called Effect Maker that will allow eligible creators to create, publish and manage effects for YouTube Shorts with the goal of making Shorts creation more fun and expressive. We’re happy to announce that we’re now expanding to more creators.”
How to access it
For now, Effect Maker is only open to creators that have access to the advanced features for YouTube. You can see if you’re eligible for Effect Maker by signing in at effects.youtube.com or learn how to gain access to these advanced features here.
At the moment, the tool is exclusive to desktop, with no specific details as to when or whether the tool will expand to mobile. However, YouTube has hinted at more updates later this year.