Google Photos Will Transform Your 2D Pictures Into Stunning 3D Animations

Google is enhancing its Photos app with a new cinematic effect that’ll give your 2D photos a 3D look and feel. Google says this feature helps “you relive your memories in a way that feels more vivid and realistic—so you feel like you’re transported back to that moment.”

Google is using machine learning to guesstimate the depth of an image. The service then takes that information to produce a 3D representation of the scene.

The process is intelligent enough to generate a 3D image even when the original image does not include depth information from the camera.

Once the 3D scene is rendered, Google Photos will animate the scene with a panning effect just like you’d see in the movies.

You don’t have to select this option or hunt to find it in the settings. The cinematic effect will be applied automatically to your photos. You just have to make sure the app is updated to the latest version.

To find these cinematic-enhanced photos, you can see them in the recent highlights (Memories) at the top of your photo grid.

You can even share the photo effect with friends and family. Google will export the 3D-enhanced photo as a video that others can see.

Other new features coming to Google Photos includes new collage designs and a Memories feature that brings photos of your favorite activities to the forefront. Like most of Google’s new features, the new collage feature leverages Google’s robust AI. It intelligently chooses layouts and frames that match the colors and scenery in your photos.

Google also has a “Then & Now” collage that finds two different photos of the same person from different years and frames them together.

Google Photos is available on all Android smartphones and tablets. It also is available in the Google Play store. iOS users can download the Google Photos app from the App Store.