Microsoft turns your photos into 3D models [BT broadband office]

Microsoft turns your photos into 3D models

Posted 20 August 2007 at 8:46AM by Simon Dickson in Website development

Microsoft's new Photosynth technology has been capturing many people's imagination lately, not least because of its use by the BBC for its Britain In Pictures initiative.

For years now, it has been possible for a photographer to take multiple pictures of the same building, let's say, then painstakingly stitch them together to form a 'virtual reality' object. But Photosynth goes a step further, by working with photos taken at different times, by different people, in different resolutions. Grab every photo you can find of a given building, chuck them all at Photosynth, and let it do the work.

Windows users can play with several Photosynth demonstrations by downloading a free plugin for Internet Explorer and Firefox. There are 3D renderings of numerous British landmarks, including Ely Cathedral, the Scottish Parliament, Blackpool Ballroom and Trafalgar Square. There's still a little way to go in terms of usability, but the potential is mindblowing, as shown in this video demonstration (as part of the TED conference we've blogged about previously).

Tags: bbc, microsoft, photography, photosynth

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Comments

1. At August 20, 2007 7:16 PM, peter wrote:

Does this mean I can look at the dark side of the moon?

2. At August 21, 2007 8:20 AM, Mark Thorpe wrote:

Hmm, it'll be good to check this out anyways...it sounds quite similar to alot of the alternative 3D texturing packages at the moment -- ie google's sketchup, which (by the sounds of your description) does the same thing as this new MS product...

3. At August 21, 2007 10:43 AM, anjanesh wrote:

mmm is it free ?

4. At August 21, 2007 7:27 PM, Patrick Coach wrote:

So, do you get a free camera with this package like some kind of SLR or something? Cause that would be really Handy!

I've not used this program myself, but i would imagine that you could be inventive and Sketch a building from different angles, and put that in and it should do the same job, am i right?

There is another thing that could be looked into which is very similar to this...playdoh! it's awesome!

5. At August 21, 2007 8:23 PM, J G Dawson wrote:

I er can't be er sure if this will ever er be er useful enough for me to er ever er get round to er using er...

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