Google Beam brings 3D to the video chat

Last year on Google I/O I had the opportunity to try out Project Starline, a video conference tool that brings 3D depth into your video chat sessions. With both AI and 3D imagination and other devices, Google turns the person at the other end of the line into a 3D image with depth and presence -it is more like talking to one person on the other side of a window than in a flat table from the other side of the world.

I found that Project Starline was pretty impressive during my short demo a year ago, even if I thought there were a few things that Google had to iron out to make his goal of having a commercial product ready by 2025.

Apparently Google believes that it has ironed out these things. With Google I/O 2025 (May 20), the company announced that Project Starline becomes a new product called Google Beam. It is even more important that Google Beam-enabled devices are on the move.

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Google Beam: What you need to know

(Photo credit: Google)

The name changes, but the idea behind Google Beam does not differ from Project Starline. You sit in front of a device with a light field display equipped with cameras -again in my demo there were three sets of dual cameras on the sides and up on the monitor -to grasp your picture. A Ki -Volumetrische Video model developed by Google transforms your 2D image into a 3D.

It is a fairly effective visual illusion how a magical mirror brings to life. The person at the other end of the call no longer looks flat, but they could reach them and touch them. (However, I would not advise it – the illusion ruins that you only speak to one version on the other side of a window.)

There is more than just a visual salon trick here. Google argues that the conversation with a 3D recreation gives you a more realistic air. It is more likely that you make eye contact and remain committed than with a flat picture that competes for attention on your display with other open widows. And with 3D it is more likely that you are non-verbal notes like you if you talk to someone in the same room-at least that's what Google argues.

My demo from a year ago did not stop long enough to see if my attention was wandered during a longer video chat meeting. But Google is on something if it claims that a 3D video call conveys a feeling of presence that is not available in the current iteration of chat options like Google Meet.

Google Beam has achieved a new trick since last year. The real-time translation functions that Google adds to Google Meet-a further announcement of I/O 2025-Werd also supports in Google Beam. This means that if you have a conversation with another person, both participants can speak in their mother tongue. The regular audio ducks in favor of a AI-driven translator who converted what is said in the current flies.

First of all, the real-time translation function in Google Meet and probably Google Beam-with English and Spanish will work together, although Google says that other languages come.

Google Beam: What's next?

Google Beam may have its new name and the trust of Google that it is ready for the main time. But there are other parts of the video conference -puzzle that have to collapse. We need hardware that supports 3D technology that drives Google.

And here HP comes into play. The company developed as a project starline partner last year and promised to work with Google to develop products that were finished in 2025. We will find out exactly what these products will look like, as Google says that HP Google Beam Ready devices will present the 2025 Pro AV trading exhibition in Florida in Florida at the 2025 Pro AV trade exhibition.

Google Beam is one of the many announcements that Google creates today in its Google I/O 2025 keynote, with a large part of the event playing on the role of the company's role with the company's products and initiatives. Follow our Google I/O live blog for the latest Google, including the possibility of another practical session with Google Beam, if this opportunity is available.

Google Beam brings 3D to the video chat – that's how it works

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