Aug
Microsoft shows off updated Photosynth tech at SIGGRAPH
Some of you may remember back in 2006 when Microsoft Research and the University of Washington first unveiled Photosynth, a system for creating 3D models formulated from combining hundreds or thousands of images.
The technology behind Photosynth has continued to progress and an updated version has been presented at SIGGRAPH this week. The original system just put together collections of photos to form a detailed 3D view, but this latest version takes the process one step further.
Rather than just putting the images together it looks at them with some intelligence. Now if you rotate round an object it moves smoothly between the images as the software has taken into account the angle of view and the angles the different pictures were taken out. Other features include the ability to display:
- Orbital views
- Panoramas
- Viewpoints of interest based on what object you are looking at
The system also allows for optimized transitions between the different views giving a smooth, flowing camera experience.
The video above demonstrates just what the system is capable of and it can also be compared to the original Photosynth video from 2006, found on the Microsoft Research Photo Tourism web page.
Read more at istartedsomething.com
Matthew’s Opinion
It’s amazing how much detail can be pooled from all these pictures taken of the same objects from ever so slightly different angles. The close up and rotation of the statue is probably the best example and the demo at the end of the video where they hold and turn a character in the hand really shows off what it can do.
If you combined Google Earth, all the pictures uploaded to sites such as Flickr and this software I bet you could generate detailed views of just about any area of developed countries around the world. The applications for such a tool have both positives and negatives and it will be interesting to see how they continue to develop this system and what another couple of years will produce from it.
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