Google introduced its latest experimental initiative in the form of “Appsperiments” earlier this week, revealing a program that seeks to explore the potential of Android photography and ultimately inspire developers to come up with more innovative tools that take full advantage of contemporary mobile imaging systems. The program debuted with two Android apps that are now available for download from the Google Play Store free of charge – Storyboard and Selfissimo!
Like its name suggests, Storyboard was designed to turn one’s videos into comic layouts, allowing users to both upload previously recorded clips or take new ones directly in the app. The mobile service is highly automated and only requires you to select videos you want to feature on your storyboard, after which it will select what it deems are “interesting” frames on its own and lay them out on a digital page. The initial result can further be customized with half a dozen visual styles, all of which appear to be inspired by traditional comics. Once you’re satisfied with your stylized creations, you’re able to save them for later viewing and sharing, or simply pull down on the screen to start making another storyboard. The current version of the app supports around 1.6 trillion combinations of styles and frames, whereas its capabilities may be expanded going forward. While Google didn’t provide many details on the app’s backend, it appears its content algorithms share some similarities to the ones used by Google Clips, a recently launched automated camera.
Selfissimo! is another “Appsperiment” meant to ennoble Android photography with the help of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, being designed to provide you with a simple portable tool for photo shoots. Apart from encouraging you to experiment with unconventional poses by literally praising your appearance, the service will allow you to easily pick and save the best shots from every session while getting rid of the rest. Google’s initiative also resulted in Scrubbies, an iOS app for creating looping videos out of already recorded clips, though it’s currently unclear whether the service will eventually launch on Android. The other two apps can be downloaded from the Google Play Store free of charge by referring to the banners below.
StoryboardSelfissimo!
