Microsoft releases Photosynth! My Grand Canyon experiment
21 Aug
Yesterday evening, through Scoble’s blog, I learned that Microsoft released their Photosynth technology to the public.
Photosynth is an impressive piece of technology now out of Microsoft Live Labs. It allows to stitch together a series of pictures from a scene to generate a pseudo-3D view of the scene that users can navigate while being able to see the original pictures.
It’s not perfect yet as the plug-in required only works on Windows. They say they are working on Mac support.
I gave it a go using pictures from trip to Las Vegas I made with my wife this winter. We took an helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon. The pictures I uploaded to Photosynth were almost all taken from the ground where we landed. You can see the results here http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=5b7540a5-f8b7-4a57-ae20-64db434c5eea
It took a little while to process and to upload with my old desktop at home. Once uploaded, it is apparent that you need to take pictures with overlapping sections to get the best results. There’s a little icon that allow you to see photos that Photosynth could not match to the set. Also, there’s one picture of the main set that’s strangely stitched.
Over all, I am impressed at the results! Next time I take picture of a scene, I will fire a lot of shots to make synths, that’s for sure!
For the most part, the terrain of this high plateau is gently rolling, with an occasional short, steep climb. The scenery is varied, ranging from tall stands of old growth ponderosas, to grassy canyon bottoms and alpine meadows dotted with aspens. At road’s end there are the unmatched panoramas of the Grand Canyon. The ridge tops that lead there offer clear views as far away as Bryce and Zion National Parks in Utah. Throw in the fact that this area is almost totally undiscovered as a mountain biking haven and it all adds up to unmatched riding enjoyment.
Photosynth is truly an impressive and awesome piece of technology from Microsoft to experience.
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