Google brings ancient creatures back to life with Augmented Reality

Google has recreated ancient creatures with the help from Augmented Reality (AR) that can roam freely in your living room via your smartphone.

Prehistoric animals like Cambropachycope, an ancient crustacean with a distinctive pointy head covered in tiny eyes or the oldest large filter feeder, the fish that swims poorly, or the largest animal ever to live on Earth have been brought back to life with the help from AR.

"In collaboration with institutions such as Moscow's State Darwin Museum and London's Natural History Museum, we've brought a menagerie of prehistoric animals back to digital life. Thanks to AR, you can see them up close through your phone," Google Arts & Culture said in a statement on Monday.

If unusual critters aren't your thing, Google has also recreated a collection of unusual cultural artifacts for people to experience in AR.

These are pre-Inca "smiling god" Lanzon from circa 500 BCE, Apollo 11 Command Module and thousands of paintings to decorate your space, from Frida Kahlo's self portraits to The Kiss.

People can find these in the Google Arts & Culture app available for free on Android and iOS.

The AR creatures or artwork has been recreated with the help from Google's augmented reality framework called ARCore.

--IANS

na/