Storyboard, Selfissimo! and Scrubbies: Google’s new photography apps with experimental technology

Google’s new apps rely on object recognition, person segmentation, stylisation algorithms, efficient image encoding and decoding technologies.

Meet Storyboard, Selfissimo! and Scrubbies, Google’s new photography apps. (AFP)

Google introduced on Monday three new photography-focused applications - Storyboard, Selfissimo! and Scrubbies.

While applications that allow you to add a filter or interesting effects are a dime and a dozen, Google's apps use high-end technologies such as "object recognition, person segmentation, stylization algorithms, efficient image encoding and decoding technologies."

Storyboard, Selfissimo! and Scrubbies are part of Google's first batch of a series of photography 'appsperiments', which the company describes as "usable and useful mobile photography experiences built on experimental technology."

"Until recently, those cameras behaved mostly as optical sensors, capturing light and operating on the resulting image's pixels. The next generation of cameras, however, will have the capability to blend hardware and computer vision algorithms that operate as well on an image's semantic content, enabling radically new creative mobile photo and video applications," Alex Kauffmann, Interaction Researcher, Google Research wrote in a blog post.

Storyboard

As the name implies, Storyboard changes your videos into a comic layouts. The processing of the videos happens on the device. Available for Android, the application automatically selects video frames, layouts and gives them a comic book-like visual. Google claims that users can always refresh the style and format by swiping down on the screen.

Selfissimo!

The application is clearly aimed at selfie-enthusiasts but leverages a timer sorts to get your right photo. You can use the application to take monochrome portraits of yourself by just posing. The app can detect when you have stopped moving and takes the photo. Selfissimo! is available for both iOS and Android.

Scrubbies

This app takes GIFs and Boomerang-like photos to a new level. It lets you control and tweak the speed and direction of video playback to create interesting video loops. "Shoot a video in the app and then remix it by scratching it like a DJ. Scrubbing with one finger plays the video. Scrubbing with two fingers captures the playback so you can save or share it," Google explains on its blog. The app is currently available for iOS.