Latest Google AR Makes Life-Sized Animals Come Alive Anywhere, Even In Your HDB. Try It.

Ever wanted to see a lion or a bear up close without making a trip to the zoo? Ever wondered how big a wolf actually is? Now you can, with the latest Google Search AR.

Using Augmented Reality(AR) technology, you can compare the actual scale of how an animal actually looks. I never knew a bear was THAT big when placed in a room.

How To Activate Google Search’s Animal AR

First, Google search for the animal that you would like to see, and depending on whether the animal is available for AR, there will be a window that says “Meet a life-sized <animal name> up close.”

Do note your phone needs to have ARCore (Google’s AR platform) installed, which will be prompted/re-directed at this point if it isn’t already.

Upon tapping ‘View in 3D’, then ‘View in your space’,  you will next be instructed to point your phone downwards to the ground. Move it around the surface you want to calibrate for where the animal should appear.

In seconds, you can now view the realistic life-sized animal up close on your phone via AR, and even take a photo with it. Be warned, it will take a whole lot of coordination between you and the photographer to get into the right spot for the photo.

Do note that the AR feature is mainly for showcasing the animal and does not have any advanced camera functions or filters; you can always edit it separately later.

Shocked by the massive size of the animal? Perhaps you’d like to see a great white shark in a bowl instead. You can pinch the screen to change the size of the animal or drag it around.

Some animals we’ve tried include a great white shark, bear, giant alligator, penguin, tiger, pony, pug, leopard, cheetah, raccoon and macaw.

Google has yet to release a full list of animals that work with this function. Does this mean that the list isn’t complete and that they are adding more animals? I’d love to see an elephant up close. This is great educational material compared to the mindless games played on mobile, so try it out.