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IKEA app projects virtual furniture into your living room

IKEA app projects virtual furniture into your living room

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ikea augmented
ikea augmented

For the first time, IKEA now allows you to virtually place furniture in your home via the company's mobile app. The augmented reality feature doesn't work on every item, but for those that have the function enabled, a quick tap on the screen will send that KLAPPSTA armchair into your living room. For best results, you'll want to use the app in conjunction with the paper catalog; apart from it being easier to browse for "3D enabled" furniture (you can scan items straight from the pages), you can also use the catalog as an anchor point for the augmented reality. Using a physical object as a grounding helps the app calculate the correct size for the furniture. If you don't have a catalog handy, you can manually place and size the furniture using the app.

The new augmented reality features aren't IKEA's first foray into the field. For its 2013 catalog, the company let users augment on-page content using their smartphones. The IKEA 2014 catalog is also notable for embracing another technology. According to a Wall Street Journal report last year, 25 percent of the products depicted in the catalog aren't products at all — they're actually 3D renders. The new IKEA catalog's 3D feature is available on Android and iOS, and will only work with the company's new 2014 catalog.