Microsoft Unveils 3-D Photo Synthesizing Software

Microsoft (News - Alert) has announced the first full release of PhotoSynth, a software service that picks a collection of photographs and stitches them together to create a scene or object in 3D.

 

Microsoft’s PhotoSynth team describes the software as a "creative medium similar to photo or video, but just a little bit different."

PhotoSynth software was developed at Microsoft Live Labs. The software allows users to combine an array of photos in a single location to a navigable 3D image called a “synth” and upload it to PhotoSynth Web site to share with the world.

 

PhotoSynth is offered as a free software service. Microsoft does not have any plans to monetize it, says Alex Daley, group product manager for Live Labs. Even if the software giant does so, it will be via advertising or licensing of the technology for commercial use.

 

As of now, PhotoSynth is a consumer product. “It's more about engaging our online customers,” said Daley. For now, all synths that get uploaded are open for public viewing, but Microsoft gives the option to people to choose to copyright their synths, make them available for use under the Created Commons license or place them in public domain. Synths can also be embedded into a third party Web site and in the future, users may be able to restrict their access to smaller groups or networking community.

Microsoft might use PhotoSynth for commercial uses as well, notes Daley. “If you think about the commerce scenarios, you have this ability to provide a generalized overview of that that you might not have been able to before. Take, for example, the possibility of a real estate site with navigable virtual tours of houses. Synths can be made to allow users to navigate around corners and objects as well as view an image in a 360-degree round.”

 

Microsoft is planning to integrate PhotoSynth with MSN, more specifically, Virtual Earth. By doing so, Microsoft plans to allow people to navigate to synths via Virtual Earth.

 

In order to get a perfect synth, photographers have to think a bit differently about how they take photos. It means that they need good visualization so that the photos produced can be overlapped one another to create a lively 3D scene or object.

 

PhotoSynth has got a number of limitations as well, admits Microsoft. It does not synth water and shiny surfaces. The software runs in Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox only in Windows - Microsoft is planning to release a Mac version soon.

Another drawback of PhotoSynth is that it requires users to download an 8-megabyte plug-in that creates the synths and to have or sign-up for a Windows Live ID. Additionally, users are given a large amount of online storage 20 gigabyte with more than 60 synths of 150 photos apiece, said the company.

 

An improvised version of PhotoSynth may soon become available that allows people to create an image using a collection of pre-existing photos from different photographers