Photosynth is a completely new and innovative way of viewing digital pictures. This software will change the way you worked with photos so far! Photosynth is software created by Microsoft Live Labs that takes a large collection of digital photos, and then analyses them for similarities. Based on those analyses, Photosynth is able to create a 3D picture of any given object and place them in reconstructed digital space. So for example, from millions of digital photos of the Eiffel Tower that are available on the internet, Photosynth can make one, 100% realistic picture and place it in a real- looking environment. After that, you can rotate and zoom in an out of a photo, to see it from any angle and any distance. Also, you can pick just one picture and download it, or send it to a friend, and it doesn’t matter how big the photos are.
But how does it exactly work? It all starts with nothing more than a bunch of digital pictures of the same object. It doesn’t matter how many of them are there, Photosynth can work with millions of images at the same time in order to be able to create one consistent and “real” image. First, the software starts to look for similarities and distinguishable features. Things like tiles, door handles, corners of the paintings, reflection of the sun on the window’s glass- and many, many other little details are being sought for. The more photos that share the same detail, the better the final image. Consequently, when the same feature can be found in many images, its 3D shape and position can be easily calculated by Photosynth. Next, they all are being connected with each other in the web, and are given a virtual space, with the background, sun fall, clouds, mist or any other possible weather circumstances that can be created from the backgrounds taken from the photos. When all this is done, you will see a real- time looking object, correctly placed in space and environment.
What can Photosynth do more? Except for being able to do all this magic, Photosynth also changes the way you work with digital photos. With this software you can just click on any picture, zoom it in our out, rotate it and look at it from different perspective. Just imagine: you can virtually walk around the newest Porsche and actually see it from any angle you want! Handy before you buy it J
http://blog.webclusive.com/blog/2007/06/12/innovatie-bij-microsoft/
