Comments on: Microsoft launches 3D wonder Photosynth for consumers

Microsoft finally takes Photosynth from being a neat-looking technology demo to a playground for amateur photographers to build incredible 3D works.

[jumpjetta]

*snore* windows only.

[yitipng]

disappointed... can't work with Firefox or Safari.

[Josh.Lowensohn]

Works with both FF3 and IE7. Are you on a Mac perchance?

[NateBiggity]

Sometimes it helps to read the article.

[kujotx]

*sweet* windows only!

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Can you imagine the possibilities for crime scene photography? Wow! I played with Photosynth quite a bit in beta, and the interface takes some getting used to. Its not 3D in the true sense, more like lthe projected (flat) images of a 3D environment arranged in a way that common areas are aligned in 3D space.

I can see a future where you can submit your photos of a famous location and find related content, or submit a photo and find where it is on earth...

[Vegaman_Dan]

I've had to deal with chain of custody evidence in photography before. Any maiipulation of the data can and will invalidate or compromise the evdience making it inadmissable. This tool, while perhaps useful in an investigation, could never be used in court.

[nathansw]

Works great on FireFox for me.

[W1dget]

As sad, tacky and in poor taste as it might be, the porn industry will almost certainly be an early adopter of this technology

[NateBiggity]

hahaha nice

[rafe]

Works fine in Firefox for me.

@W1dget Hah! But... no. Photosynth likes edges and static scenes. Porn, or any image collection that's mostly curvy and moving living things, not architecture, is much harder to "synth."

[david.r.jennings]

What is this 1995? What kind of moronic company offers new "In-the-cloud Web" software that only runs on one OS, and only supports a couple of browser types? Oh wait... that would me Microsoft!

It won't even run on Fusion or Parallels in a virtual PC environment. Typical.

[Penguinisto]

Cute, but MetaCreation's Canoma (now resting in Corel's software graveyard) has been doing exactly this since the mid-1990's, and works on both Windows and MacOS.

IOW, aside from the "ooh, lookit - it's on the cloooud!" aspect, this is not exactly an innovation, you know?

Canoma was part of a group of apps (the other three are Bryce, Poser, and Carrara) that do 3D/CG.

[dajunga]

Canoma was great for it's time - but the real breakthrough here is what is going on behind the scenes. Photosynth is able to figure out the similarities between massive amounts of photos taken from one or many sources and stitch them together - All of this without any additional information from the user.

You would have to "pin" every single object over however many photos using Canoma to get a similar affect. Good luck with that. The photo recognition technology on display with Photosynth is really what all the hype is about - and it really is well deserved.

[kojacked]

Whaa Whaa Whaa... It doesn't work on my Amiga! I'm telling mom!

Since when does the OS or browser an application runs in defines it as innovative or even "good"? That's like saying all of the new cars coming out this year are "the suck" because they don't run on electricity.

It's free so what are you complaining about? Oh, my bad -- that's right you are complaining because it came from Microsoft. Sorry I forgot.

[castelazo]

If you are unsatisfied because Photosynth only runs for windows, then you should consider make the program yourself!!! And do it right and OS independent. This is a great piece of software, innovative and I think many of us will love to use it.

If you run a mac, then you should know you are not Photosynth target. Also, Mac has software that runs ONLY in a MAC. But, hey, It's Microsoft, we MUST hate them, right?

Congrats MS!!

PS: I do respect the MAC and all its users just the same way I respect PC users. Be objective.

[dude7895]

Awesome program, very fun to use. To all the mac users who are complaining about it not running on your computer, grow up. Apple only makes software for there own computer, at least MS makes there software available to anyone.

[Fastlap1]

If MS makes its software available to everyone, how is it that Photosynth runs ONLY on a Mac OS inferior clone called Windows? I have both Windows and Mac computers. My poor Windows machine has not been fired up for months. I got tired of the crashes and lot of other bad stuff. That said, other than Windows, MS does create some very good apps.

[DennisMcCK]

Have you never heard of iTunes or Safari?

[restoration85]

It does actually work within Firefox!

[ndotkrame]

hated microsoft until this article.

dave jennings - quit bro'in out. it's a party, and you're no longer invited. take your things and get the hell out of my house.

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

What if it is "non-destructive" in a sense that all the data is retained, but just arranged spacially. Photosynth keeps the photos 2D but arranges them in 3D so you can see where the photographer stood and what direction he was looking, it also shows how one photo relates to another.

[Zanny_Osmond]

This is an AWESOME piece of MICROSOFT software! And it works just fine in Firefox.

Not on a Mac? WHO CARES? Let the 3% club fondle their iMovie & Final Crap Pro.

Better yet, let the fix MobileMEss instead. Way to go, Microsoft!

I just think it's boring. Even the "good" synths, submitted by National Geographic, apparently, are pretty dull and incomplete. If they are composed of hundreds of original photos, where are they? Probably because of the original photos, the synth jumps around unexpectedly and unpredictably.

Although the subject matter is Really dull, the synth by Josh is at least more complete, and flowing. Maybe if it somehow catches-on, and professional photographers agree to take hundreds of shots surrounding their intended subject, some nice wrap-around panoramas might end-up on the sites. But what's there now is just plain dull.

I'd like to see someone at Nasa synth together some panoramas from the Mars rovers, now That might be cool.

[BizziM]

Well i think its a great idea.. although, (i cant find it so forgive me if its available) it would be great if a plugin was available for all browsers so you could create the photosynmths and then embed them within ones own website and share them that way. Im sure that must be possible.

[goodspeed8701]

the apple this a[[le that. i dont see them making good softwares for every one to enjoy. besides its microsoft u are never liking them so i am no suprised u like the someware only that the mac gives u limited computer abilities