Last year's news actually

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

But Microsoft is still working on the Photosynth technology (http://www.appscout.com/2007/06/microsoft_photosynth_wowing_it.php) they bought last year.

Bart

[Asher Kelman]

But Microsoft is still working on the Photosynth technology (http://www.appscout.com/2007/06/microsoft_photosynth_wowing_it.php) they bought last year.

Bart

But where are they up to? We keep hearing little bits but no bites!

Asher!

[Ray West]

It's a concept that works on selected images, if other information is available - like location. They showed an example of a cathedral. All images selected manually. If they are ripping off images from the web in general, how do they know it is what it says it is? After a few months, there will be thousands of fake images, designed to pervert the results, advertising for porn sites, etc. Although it may be possibly a useful gimmick for a particular collection of images, it is unlikely to scale well to the web at large.

Best wishes,

Ray

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

But where are they up to? We keep hearing little bits but no bites!

It's assumed to take at least 5-6 year to be incorporated in the OS, but there is a free downloadable application for those who want to toy with it now. 'Vista' apparently has already some components incorporated for the display part, or so I've read somewhere.

Bart

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

It's a concept that works on selected images, if other information is available - like location. They showed an example of a cathedral. All images selected manually.

That is the part that could be of use for photographers like us here. Panoramic stitching is 'old technology' in that regard.

Were are also most likely going to see more 3D applications for our day-to-day computer needs (and Adobe apparently recognized it as well). SUN already have a 3D desktop project called Looking Glass (http://www.sun.com/software/looking_glass/) that explores the possibilities.

If they are ripping off images from the web in general, how do they know it is what it says it is? After a few months, there will be thousands of fake images, designed to pervert the results, advertising for porn sites, etc. Although it may be possibly a useful gimmick for a particular collection of images, it is unlikely to scale well to the web at large.

Yes, there can be polution in the input stream, but there may also be ways to reduce it, in much the same way that websites can be filtered for cookies, pop-ups, or content. Who knows there might emerge a rating engine that becomes bigger than Google ...

Bart

[Ray West]

Hi Bart,

Its what I meant by 'unlikely to scale well'. Its perfectly useful for a specific situation, e.g. photos submitted with maybe some extra meta data. However, in the demo it was skewed to give the impression it would be able to select images from an infinite collection and make a sub set of them to present a 3d fly past of a selected location. If that is the concept, then initially photos will have to be submitted with the necessary tags, until /if it becomes common practice. It will be much, much worse than finding what you really want in the text based side of things, using google, say.

I think the problem could be similar to this - imagine a jigsaw puzzle, say 50 pieces. It takes you half an hour to solve - and you have the box cover to work from. Now, take half a dozen identical puzzles, mix up the 300 pieces. How long then? Then add in say half a dozen similar puzzles, slightly different images, or slightly different die cuts. Repeat the above, without the box cover to work from.

I think they may end up with more interpolation, then real image, then they place the generated image into the pot, too.

Still, makes a pretty demonstration, gets some funding, but I'm not holding my breath.

Best wishes,

Ray

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Microsoft has formally released the first version of this technology.
http://photosynth.net/ (http://photosynth.net/)

Unfortunately it is currently limited to the PC platform (XP & Vista), the images must be uploaded, and then become public http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/images/icons/icon9.gif.

Anyway, it's interesting technology, so let's hope it matures quickly into a standalone product without the MS stranglehold.

Bart