Will that new couch fit in my living room? How about that table, is it too big for the space?
In the old days you would have to break out a tape measure to see if furniture fits or just imagine it’s coloring in the room. But thanks to advancements in augmented reality, you can now see exactly it will look like in your home before you buy it.
Home décor retailer Pottery Barn has released a new app named 3D Room View that will implant a virtual three-dimensional image select furniture pieces on a smartphone or tablet screen, allowing the customer to get an augmented reality view of what the couch, seat, table, lamp or chair will look like in the room.
“The app allows customers to either add products to an existing room, enabling them to see how new products will look with their current furniture and decor, or they can empty the room to start the design process from scratch,” a press release announcing the app notes. Customers can add, move and remove furniture, rugs, lamps and pillows, change the color of the upholstery or pillows, and zoom in to see details or finish. Check out the video of the app in action.
There are some caveats. The 3D Room View uses augmented reality technology from Google named Tango, which requires supported smartphones and tablets to use. So sorry it will not work on your iPhone. Lenovo’s Phab 2 Pro and the Asus Zenphone AR are two examples of devices the app does work on.
Williams Sonoma, which owns Pottery Barn, released another feature to its app and website named 360 Spin. Customers can drag more than 120 different sofas in any direction they want and see it from multiple angles and in multiple styles. This works on any device.Here’s a video link to a demo of that.
Williams Sonoma worked with a company named Outward, Inc. – which specializes in production visualization for retailers - to develop the new apps and functionality.