Google’s new AR feature will turn smartphones into art museum

Google is set to turn your smartphones into an art museum thanks to its new app that creates visual art galleries via augmented reality.

While viewing paintings on smartphones is no big deal, it still won’t be equal to give the feel of being in a museum. Google is trying to change that with its new Pocket Gallery feature to its Arts & Culture app with high-resolution captures of paintings.

With the help of augmented reality for creating visual art galleries, the feature will allow users to walk in an art gallery and study paintings in detail, focused on collecting the known works of classic Dutch artists Vermeer paintings including masterpiece ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’, all in a single place.

Google explained that the artist only created 36 art works that are at present scattered across 17 collections in seven countries, which makes it difficult for art lovers to see all of his works in one place.

As explained by 9to5Google, opening the app and camera will step the user into a virtual seven-room exhibition space. As the user picks up a room, they will be able to walk up to the paintings to study them in detail and learn more about them. There are also ‘in painting tours’ for each work, ‘expert stories’ and guided tours for special pieces.

Video Courtesy: Google Arts & Culture

The feature is unique because it actually constructed a miniature 3D art gallery that can utilize phone’s AR functionality and put up a physical space in front of people. The feature is available for both Android and iOS, but requires support of ARCore for Android and ARKit for iOS, reported Tech Crunch.