ADN

Say what you want about microsoft, this product looks really cool. Imagine an online database that people from all over the world can upload images they have taken while on vacation or even around their own town. This database then constructs 3D models of locations based on the uploaded photos. This allows the browser to virtually visit anywhere that pictures have been taken and the software will use images from the database and render the environment in real-time as the user navigates and zooms in and out. Photosynth takes a large collection of photos of a place or object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed 3-Dimensional space.

With Photosynth you can:

* Walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle.
* Seamlessly zoom in or out of a photograph whether it¢¢¬¢ž¢s megapixels or gigapixels in size.
* See where pictures were taken in relation to one another.
* Find similar photos to the one you¢¢¬¢ž¢re currently viewing.
* Explore a custom tour.
* Send a collection to a friend.

The following link has a video that does a much better job of explaining it and has some footage of actual usage to explore St. Peter¢¢¬¢ž¢s Basilica in Rome.
PhotoSynth Preview Video

There have been not releases of this software yet, but after reading the site, it would seem they were getting
closer!

The most original idea they've had in my recent memory...Lofty, but a good one...I'll be watching this..!

yeah, it started with a couple of doods from Univ of Washington, then the MS Labs got involved and then MS purchased another company that had come up with the zooming algorithms...still, they had the insight to know this has the potential to be pretty cool!

Now if only they would include some of the women I have "visited" and render them in 3-D... THAT would really be awsome!