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How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3

May 7, 2014 08:15 PM
Woman taking a selfie outdoors.

The way you use your camera just got a bit more interesting. Phogy, a brand new camera app for Android, allows you to capture pictures with a 3D effect that comes alive when shifting your phone from side to side.

From Vivoti, a Singapore-based company, Phogy turns your regular pictures into something much more lifelike and unique (called "phogies"), which you can then share with friends and family. To give you an idea of the effect before diving in to the app, check out the video below.

And if you like being the subject of your pictures more than anything else, Phogy is great for creating moving 3D selfies (it's even called Phogy, 3D Selfie), as shown extensively in their promotional video.

Giving Your Photos the 3D Effect

Before using the app to take a picture, make sure you have a target that you're going to aim at; whether it's an actual object or just a point in the background.

Once that point is set, tap on the camera icon and move your device to right, in an ellipse. After a couple of seconds, the picture will finish and start scanning.

Flower pot on a stone surface.
Potted plant on a stone surface.
Flower pot on a stone surface.
Potted plant on a stone surface.

Phogy will then shift to a different page, where it will write, analyze, and process the static image into a picture with the 3D effect. Once the processing is all done, you'll see your newly minted creation. Shift your phone from left to right to move the image around.

Loading screen with steps: Writing, Analyzing, Processing.
Potted plant on a stone surface.
Loading screen with steps: Writing, Analyzing, Processing.
Potted plant on a stone surface.

Tip: After playing around with taking pictures, try shifting the direction in other ways, like right-to-left or top-to-bottom, to see various other directions. The "move to right" instruction is simply to get you accustomed to the app.

Sharing Your 3D Images

At the top of the screen, you'll see several icons (some of which require in-app purchases): set as wallpaper, delete, picture effects, and share.

If you tap on the share icon, you'll have a few formats to choose from: PHOGY (native app format), GIF, and MP4 (video). To view all of the pictures you've shot, you can check them out in the in-app gallery.

How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3
How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3
How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3
How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3

Adjusting Your Phogy Settings

In the settings, you can move such features as move sensitivity, exposure time, resolution, size, quality, and video frame/cycles/speed.

How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3
Video settings menu featuring options for video quality, frame rate, and speed.
How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3
Video settings menu featuring options for video quality, frame rate, and speed.

In the free version, only low qualities of these settings will be available—to get all of the features, you'll have to make an in-app purchase.

Phogy Pro app purchase screen with price and payment options.

Exporting Images & Setting as a Wallpaper

While in-app purchase requirements restrict the ability to set your images from Phogy into a live wallpaper, you could always use another application. AnimGIF can turn all of your GIFs into live wallpapers for your device—for free. To do this, you'll need to share and export the picture you took as a GIF directly from Phogy.

Sharing options menu with formats including GIF and MP4.

Now open up AnimGIF, tap on the AnimGIF LWP 2 option, and go into the Settings.

Live wallpaper options for a mobile device screen.
Instructions for selecting a GIF file on a mobile device.
Live wallpaper options for a mobile device screen.
Instructions for selecting a GIF file on a mobile device.

In the settings, tap on Select GIF files and find the Phogy folder.

Settings menu for GIF file management and playback options.
Folder structure of a digital device showing various media categories with an arrow pointing to the "Photos" folder.
Settings menu for GIF file management and playback options.
Folder structure of a digital device showing various media categories with an arrow pointing to the "Photos" folder.

In the Phogy folder, select the GIF folder, which will contain all of the GIFs you've created and exported.

Folder structure on a mobile device showing 'gif', 'mp4', and 'tmp' folders.
How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3
Folder structure on a mobile device showing 'gif', 'mp4', and 'tmp' folders.
How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3

Once you've selected the GIF you want as a live wallpaper, set it as your background. In the background, you'll see it rotate from left to right and back.

How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3
How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3
How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3
How to Turn Photos & Selfies into Moving 3D Images on Your Galaxy S3

At the bottom, there will be a small watermark, but you can get rid of it by purchasing the Pro version of the AnimGIF.

The next big software update for iPhone is coming sometime in April and will include a Food section in Apple News+, an easy-to-miss new Ambient Music app, Priority Notifications thanks to Apple Intelligence, and updates to apps like Mail, Photos, Podcasts, and Safari. See what else is coming to your iPhone with the iOS 18.4 update.

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