Microsoft launches free Photosynth for combining shots into one picture

Microsoft released the free online service, Photosynth, Wednesday night. The software arranges photo sets in their real-world, 3-D context and allows people to navigate smoothly around the canals of Venice, for example, or zoom in to read the serial numbers on the space shuttle's heat shields..

Photosynth.com

By Benjamin J. Romano

Seattle Times technology reporter

Free online service puts photo collection into one picture

Photosynth takes a collection of digital images, such as this National Geographic shoot of Stonehenge, and arranges them in their real-world, 3-D context. The Microsoft software calculates the camera's position for each image and finds features the photos share in common. A viewer can browse the photos in this three-dimensional reconstruction, below, navigating from one image to the next and smoothly zooming in on tiny details. Microsoft released a free online service Wednesday allowing individuals to create and view their own "synths."

Get "synthy"

Photo collections in which all of the images fit together are 100 percent "synthy." Here's how to do it:

Shoot: Using any off-the-shelf digital camera, shoot lots of overlapping photos of an object or scene, specifically for Photosynth. Don't just throw every photo on your computer into the system. Start with wide-angle shots, moving around to cover the whole subject. Then take closer, detail images. Subjects with lots of texture do best.

Upload: Microsoft's Photosynth.com Web site allows users with a Windows Live ID to create a free account. To create and view "synths," you'll need to download an 8-megabyte piece of software. From there it's a straightforward process of naming the "synth" and assigning copyrights to your photos, if desired. The program does the rest in a process that can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the number and size of the photo collection.

More info: Microsoft has a how-to video and a nine-page photography guide with much more detail. It's available at Photosynth.com.

Source: Microsoft

Two years ago, Microsoft wowed audiences with technology to explore the world through digital photos.

The company demonstrated Photosynth, software that arranges photo sets in their real-world, 3-D context and allows people to navigate smoothly around the canals of Venice, for example, or zoom in to read the serial numbers on the space shuttle's heat shields.

Now anyone can make a "synth," documenting anything from a favorite sculpture to a real-estate listing to a city skyline in a new way. Microsoft released the free online service Wednesday night.

Article at the Seattle Times

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008128541_photosynth21.html