Microsoft launches Photosynth
Microsoft labs (their counterpart to Google labs I guess) has created a new online application called Photosynth that takes regular digital photos and creates a 360 view. It's similar to Quicktime VR except you don't need any special equipment or even have to stand in the same location.
Click here to go straight to the Photosynth home page.
In order to use it you have download and install a very small application (It's only available for Windows at the moment). You take your camera and take as many photos of the room or area as you can, trying to get as much overlap as you can. You upload the photos to the site and it automatically scans and creates the 360 view for you. You can also zoom in and move forward and backwards creating an almost virtual tour of a location.
So I tested the site out and the program still seems like it needs some more refining. It's not as smooth as quicktime VR, but that's to be expected because your not on a tripod with a special camera. I think it has some potential and with more development could be a really cool tool. There are still some bugs to be worked out because I tried creating my own 360 view of an outdoor concert I went to this weekend but it gave me an error as soon as I tried to upload the photos. I'm positive about it and will continue to keep trying until I can get it to work and I'll post a link.
Check it out if you can, and if you get it work post the link in the comments.
Here are some screen grabs from the site:
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2godonholiday:
It seems you did not get the idea... it's not a site that offers a 3D experience, it's much more!!!
2 author:
I think Microsoft Labs was formed when Google even was not on a market.
Thinking that a Microsoft is an evel is a general opinion. You just take it as truth so you look cool. You never analysed why it's an evel and why Google is even worse...
"Not cool enough for my OS" oh well. And by the looks of the requirements it does not work on 25% of the internet market either? No IE6?
Nice idea, I have seen numerous sites that offer this and more, maybe it is the case that big companies just can not act quick enough to get these things to market?
____________________
Learn it, pass it on.
check:
http://www.cooliris.com/
for a 3d environment that can display photos,swf and even youtube videos.
Microsoft labs is not a counter of Google's labs. You see everyone is doing this lab thingy these days, from small software companies to the big guys like Adobe and Google and Microsoft the greatest of them all cannot be left out.
Thanks for the post.
Amazing!
And don't you ever say again Microsoft doesn't know much about design ... I love it!
Hi Allen,
thanks for your comment. It does sound amazing. I hope it really takes off. I'm still getting errors using it today. I just tried again now and my pictures won't even upload. I've tried their help forum but nothing useful has been posted.
What is their Seadragon program? I'm going to look that up.
oh and I love TED.com!
nice news.thanks for this article.
You can look at the Ted Talk demonstrations that were posted on this project a couple years ago and see first hand the true potential of this application...
I've personally been keeping an eye on this and the Seadragon project Microsoft labs has been working on for some time now...
working hand in hand with a fully semantic web... this program has the potential to create a world collective archive of what we have all seen via it's advanced image comparison algorithm...
imagine if you will... seeing not just your point of view from a recent vacation...
but everyone elses as well... with just the click of your mouse...
truly innovative...
Thanks for sharing!
I already postet it 2 days ago, but still thinks it's amazing.
http://www.enlightentheweb.com/post/Microsoft-Photosynth-offentlich-verf...
(Post is in German, sorry)
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