(Pocket-lint) – Google Photos has gained a new feature: The ability to take your 2D images and make them appear 3D-like. The company announced in a blog post on 15 December that its photo service, Google Photos, is receiving an update that will introduce a new type of image called Cinematic photos.
What are Cinematic photos?
Google Photos will automatically generate Cinematic photos for you at random. It will essentially choose regular photos saved in your Google Photos library as memories, and it’ll turn them into immersive animations. All you need to do is make sure your Google Photos app is updated. Google will do all the work.
To make Cinematic photos, Google said it uses machine learning to “predict an image’s depth and produce a 3D representation of the scene – even if the original image doesn’t include depth information from the camera. Then we animate a virtual camera for a smooth panning effect – just like out of the movies.”
Can you share Cinematic photos?
If you want to share a Cinematic photo with your friends, Google said you can send it as a video.
Where can you find Cinematic photos?
Cinematic photos appear in the recent highlights section above your photo grid in the Google Photos mobile app.
Examples of Cinematic photos
You can see a GIF of Google comparing a 2D image to a Cinematic photo here.
When will Cinematic photos be available?
The new feature will be rolling out to all users over the next month (end of December 2020 and early January 2021), according to Google.
Want to know more?
Check out Google’s blog post for more details.
Writing by Maggie Tillman.
