Photosynth - Just saw this and thought I'd share.

[SandmanNinja]

Just saw this and thought I'd share.

It works with Firefox, also.

 

I use software to stitch my photographs together for some panograph-type shots. I just wander if the 2nd or 3rd generation will let people walk into a room, snap snap snap, and get the equivilent of a 10-megapixel image.

 

It kinda looks a bit weird, but I checked out the demo of the Bird's Nest and it gives a some-what immersive experience. Maybe one with drugs involved, but I think this is just first generation kind of stuff and can only get better.

 

 

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=619103

 

A program that stitches together a mass of photos to provide a three-dimensional image of an area is being touted as a "new visual medium".

 

Microsoft's latest product, Photosynth, takes tens, hundreds or even thousands of photos of varying resolution and quality, and combines them into a cohesive whole.

 

By pinpointing similarities in the photos — a door handle in a room, for instance, or the dome of the Taj Mahal — Photosynth's algorithms estimate where each photo was taken.

 

The program then maps these reference points in three dimensions to create a virtual map of the area and overlays this map with the original photos, creating a "synth".

 

The result is akin to a combination of a photo album and a virtual reality experience — and is genuinely impressive when executed on a large scale.

 

Microsoft (which owns 50 percent of ninemsn) has just made the program available to the general public, after initially providing it to employees and partners including the National Geographic Society.

 

Example synths at the program's website include a massive montage of Taj Mahal photos and Smith Tower, a skyscraper in Seattle.

 

Creating a synth is relatively easy — this reporter took about 10 minutes to stitch together a basic sketch of his kitchen using the program in conjunction with a camera phone.

 

Synths can also be embedded into webpages in the same manner as videos from sites such as YouTube, allowing the images to be easily shared.

 

At present only one person can upload photos to a synth, but in future the program's developers hope to use social networking programs to draw together photos from a huge number of people — a process known as crowd sourcing.

 

The program also has the potential to provide in-depth travel and news experiences, and will be integrated with Microsoft's map product, Virtual Earth.

 

Ninemsn cross-platform video editor Richard Wiles has created a synth using photos taken out the window of our Olympics office in Beijing. The synth includes views of the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. If you've installed photosynth, check it out below.