GOOGLE has released a new mobile and tablet feature that allows you to project a 3D animal through your screen.
Here's how you can have tigers, penguins and sharks running around your living room in no time.
How to get the animals to appear
You may have to be a little patient with it but once it gets going it is a good bit of fun for kids and bored adults.
How to get animals to come up
- Start with a standard Google search for your favourite animal on your smartphone or tablet.
- Scroll down until you find a new white box that says “Meet a life-sized [animal] up close.” with an animation of said animal under the wikipedia info.
- Click on the little “view in 3D” icon to the left of the animal within the box.
- At this point your screen will change like a pop-out window.
- You’ll need to wiggle your phone about a bit until the animal appears.
Why is it not working?
The new augmented reality (AR) tech is having a few teething problems at the moment, as we experienced when we tried it.
Your device needs to be either an Android smartphone or tablet with Android 7.0 or higher with pre-installed Google Play Store; or iPhone/iPad: iOS 11.0 or higher.
If you don't have the latest operating system installed then you just get a 3D animal that you can move around with a blank background.
It just potters around a bit and flaps while making animal noises.
If you do have the latest OS installed then you should be able to project the animal around the house.
Failing that, other things you can do are to shut down all the background apps just to give it the best chance.
Also make sure your settings allow your browser to access your camera and send you push notifications from Google too.
What animals are available so far?
Alligator
Angler fish
Brown bear
Cat
Cheetah
Dog
Duck
Eagle
Emperor penguin
Goat
Hedgehog
Horse
Lion
Macaw
Octopus
Pug
Giant panda
Rottweiler
Shark
Shetland pony
Snake
Tiger
Turtle
Wolf
What does 'AR enabled' mean?
'AR enabled' devices allow you to see the world around you with an overlay through your smartphone.
The term AR (Augmented Reality) was first coined back in 1990, with the technology originally used for television and military purposes, according to manofmany.com.
AR and VR (virtual reality) technology has improved greatly due to the internet, tablets and smartphones.
This is the tech that they wanted to promote with things like Google Glass and other 'smart glasses' that came out about ten years ago.
Most smartphones now have the ability to project 3D models onto physical things in real-time, most notably through AR apps.
These AR apps generally connect digital animation to a special ‘marker’, or with the help of GPS in phones to pinpoint the location.
This technology comes into play almost every time you watch a modern sporting event where the projection of scores and images onto the live feed is an example of AR.
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