Put Virtual 3-D Lions & Tigers In Your House With This New Google Feature

Get ready to take a trip to the zoo without even having to leave the house. Thanks to Google's augmented reality (AR) objects in its search feature, you can use the 3-D animal feature to virtually check out lions, tigers, bears, and more. Here’s how to use Google’s 3-D animal feature to bring the zoo right into your own living room.

Before getting started, you'll first need to make sure you have a smart device that supports the AR feature. Android smartphones and tablets will need to run at least Android 7.0 or higher while iPhone and iPad owners will need iOS 11.0 or higher to use the 3-D update. Once you've made sure your smart device is up to these specifications, it's super easy.

To virtually transport your favorite wildlife into your home, open up Google on your smartphone or device and type in whatever animal you'd like to see. I tried a few different options, and it looks like you can pull up 3-D versions of lions, tigers, alligators, pandas, Emperor penguins, octopi, sharks, snakes, turtles, wolves, eagles, brown bears, and cheetahs, as well as domesticated animals like dogs (I was able to find Labrador retrievers and pugs) and cats.

Once you type in the name of the animal you'd like to see, you'll want to slightly scroll down past the overview, and then you'll tap on the image where Google invites you to meet a life-sized version of the animal up close. Once you select "View in 3-D," Google will use your camera to scan your room with AR technology and find a place to virtually place your life-sized animal. Once it's done, the animal you selected will appear, and you can adjust the size and angle to explore it in more detail. The animal will stay wherever you place it until you decide to move it, so if you move your camera away, it'll disappear until you focus back on the area where you first placed it.

Google's AR objects technology isn't limited to only animals, as you can also search various planets, the human body, NASA’s rovers and satellites, cars, and more. While the "View in 3-D" option doesn't always immediately show up towards the top, I had good luck typing in the search term with 3-D and then waiting for the option to populate.

Get ready to turn up the adventure in your work-from-home space with all the 3-D animals you can handle.