By Erin Carlyle, Houzz
If you can’t quite visualize how a piece of furniture or home renovation item such as a vanity will look in your room, new upgrades to the Houzz app can help. Houzz’s beefed-up 3D tool for iPhone and iPad enables you not only to view multiple items in your room using the app’s augmented reality technology, but also to see them at scale on your screen and observe their surfaces close up.
With the enhanced “View in My Room 3D” app, you can layer products over rugs. And using your iPhone or iPad, you can walk around products to get a closer virtual look at how their surfaces will appear in your room’s light. The tool now also features a shopping list to help you keep track of the items you’re looking at, making it easier to use Houzz to get inspired and shop from the comfort of your home.
See how the tool works below, then go to the App Store to download the updated app in iOS 11.
Original photo on Houzz
This photo shows a woman using the 3D feature in her room. You can see that the room has a blue sofa in it. Her iPhone captures the floor of her room, and she taps to virtually place the white coffee table in front of the sofa. The coffee table is a 3D-enabled product she found in the Houzz Shop. The woman can move the coffee table within the virtual room displayed on her device or rotate it using two fingers.
Related: Pick a Coffee or Accent Table Here
Original photo on Houzz
Here’s a closer look at what the woman sees on her iPhone screen. She can rotate the table at any angle on her screen, and she can walk toward it in her room to see its details and surfaces displayed close up on her screen.
The product’s materials are displayed on the device as they would look in the room’s lighting.
In this case, the tool is using the light from the window and the wall lamp.
Original photo on Houzz
How to Find 3D-Enabled Products
This tool is available for half a million products sold on Houzz, with more to come. There are two ways to find these 3D-enabled products.
1. Use the 3D filter in Shop. One way is to use the filter in the Shop that enables you to browse specifically for 3D products. To find this filter, go to the Shop within the Houzz app, choose the product category, then the subcategory, and then tap the filter button on the top left corner of your iPhone or iPad screen. Select 3D and choose the product.
Original photo on Houzz
2. Look for the green 3D badge. The second way to find 3D products is to look for a 3D badge attached to products as you shop. In this image, the green badge beneath the white-and-oak coffee table shows that it is 3D-enabled. Select the product you want to see in your room.
Original photo on Houzz
How to See a 3D-Enabled Product in Your Room
Once you’ve selected the product, tap on “View in My Room 3D,” which will launch your device’s camera.
Original photo on Houzz
Next you’ll want to hold your iPhone or iPad upright and point it toward the area in the room where you want the product to appear. The app detects your room’s floor.
Original photo on Houzz
A blue box will appear in the app as the 3D object loads, as shown in this image. The 3D feature now will automatically place the product on the floor of your room, and the scale should be fairly appropriate. Rotate the object in your room to see how it would look from any angle.
Original photo on Houzz
You can also virtually place more than one product from the Houzz Shop in your room. This image shows how a chartreuse side chair would look with the new coffee table and the existing sofa.
Original photo on Houzz
Each product viewed in 3D is automatically kept in a shopping list, making it simple to make purchases after you’ve viewed products virtually in your room. Alternatively, app users can capture what’s on their screens and save it to Houzz ideabooks to share with family members or home renovation professionals.
This tool makes designing your home easier. You can get inspired by the 15 million photos on Houzz, find products you love in the photos in the Houzz Shop, view them in your room using the app’s 3D feature and purchase — all without having to leave home.
Houzz launched the 3D tool in the app earlier this year and is rolling out these enhancements powered by ARKit, Apple’s augmented reality technology for putting items on tables and floors, available with the company’s iOS 11 rollout Sept. 19. The Houzz app for iPhone and iPad is available free exclusively in the App Store. Download it here.
The tool is available only on iPhone SE, iPhone 6s and higher, iPad 2017, and any iPad Pro.
Those on Android can stay tuned for a 3D update coming soon.