whenever we hit up ikea stores, we make sure we have our home or office floor plan handy – just to be sure we don’t get anything that doesn’t fit (returning a bed or sofa can be hassle, really). while “sizing” can be solved by the good old way (i.e. measuring), whether the furniture does really match up with the rest of your home or office is another issue. how it turns out really depends on your imagination, but with the 2014 Ikea Augmented Reality Catalog app (officially, just “2014 Ikea Catalog”), available for both Android and iOS devices, you can make use of the new augmented reality function to ensure that not only you are getting the right size, but also how the furniture of your fancy will look in your living space.
say for example you want a sofa in your new living room; first you will need a physical copy of the 2014 Ikea Catalog (online copy could work too; tried and tested by us). next, get to the product page where it supports the “3D placement”; then fire up your 2014 Ikea Catalog app, select “DISCOVER MORE” to launch the camera and point your device’s camera at the said page. if that page supports the “3D placement” function, an icon (a graphic sofa with the word “3D” next to it) will pop up within the camera field of view. hit that icon and follow the onscreen instruction (there’s a tutorial to guide through rest of the way). to be honest, the process is not as easy as it sounds; it need some getting use to, but it does work. at least now i know the KIVIK one-seat section takes up too much space in my room and the STRIND coffee table looks pretty cool sitting in the middle of the room.
though, this awesome functionality is only applicable to few select items and not the entire catalog, but still, it’s a start. i’ll say this certainly beats frantic measuring to gauge the fitment of the furniture and most importantly, you won’t have to hear yourself saying “hey, that’s not what i imagined it to be.”
