Have you ever played around with Google’s 3D Animal feature? It allows you invite animals into your home, virtually, through an augmented reality (AR) feature, similar to that used in Pokemon Go.
There are approximately 30 animals to choose from, including lions, ducks, eagles, goats, sharks, wolves, turtles and more. In the spring, you can take photos with the Easter Bunny.
And in the fall, there’s a cast of spooky characters for Halloween.
Try it with these search terms (see the instructions below):
- Human skeleton (and it dances!)
- Jack-o-lanterns (a row of three)
- Black cat (wearing a witch’s hat)
- Halloween (a cute ghost)
- German shepherd (wearing a pirate costume)
- Hot dog (wiener dog in a hot dog costume)
To find one, you search for an animal by name on Google Chrome on your smartphone. We’ve found that this does not work with the Google App – just with Google Chrome. (Your experience might be different; it can vary by phone.)
Make sure that you allow Google to access your camera (in settings.)
For example, search for Lion. Near the top of the search results you should see a picture of a lion and the words “Meet a life-sized lion up close.” Click on “View in 3D.”
Give it a little time and move your phone around, and you should see a lion in the room, in an AR experience. It will move around a little bit, and act lion-like.
Depending on where you point your phone, you can see different angles of the animal. Get close and it’s bigger.
These detailed instructions and screenshots below come to you courtesy of our sister site, Charlotte on the Cheap. They feature the Easter Bunny, but you can search for many other different animals — we hear lions and tigers are popular choices!
Instructions:
Search for “Easter Bunny” or “human skeleton” or “black cat” (or whatever you’d like to see) on Google Chrome on your smartphone.
Near the top of the results, you should see this screen (if you searched for black cat):
Click on “View in 3D.”
Give it a little time and move your phone around, and you should see your chosen character in your room or yard, in an AR experience. It will move around a little bit in a natural fashion.
Depending on where you point your phone, you can see different angles of the animal. Get close and it’s bigger. You can also resize the animal or character by pinching to zoom in or out.
Below, you can see we’ve placed the spooky black cat in our own yard.
Once you get the character positioned, you can take some fun portraits.
Just grab your kid, your dog, your cat, your partner, or whoever you’ve been sequestered with, and position them next to the creature. It will move around a little bit, but won’t run away. As the creature moves around, you can get different shots. Use the photo shutter button that appears on the screen to take the picture.
Photo courtesy of Charlotte on the Cheap
If your kid, dog, cat, or partner isn’t super-cooperative you might have to try this a few times, but don’t worry. The 3-D character will not run out of patience sigh with exasperation. Just keep trying!
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