We explore our surroundings, with every technology we have. From text to audio to maps to photos. Now there is a new technology freely available to represent place - Photosynth. Photosynth comes from Microsoft and you can build up your own 3d environment with your digital camera and the Photosynth software.
This is how it works:
- You make a lot of photos of your surrounding with as many overlapping as possible. Walk around and change zoom and angle.
- Go to http://www.photosynth.net and download and install the software plugin in your web browser.
- The software automatically compares all your photos and finds out how they go together and uploads them to the web.
- The result is a 3d virtual representation which can be seen by anyone via the Internet.
The optimistic overall goal of the developers is to create a 3d photo-realistic representation of the whole world.
Still there are some limitations and drawbacks:
- Creating a good Photosync takes patience and practice.
- Every spot in the environment has to be included in at least three photos.
- No Mac version until now.
- You cannot create a private version of your composed photos.
- Alternative Quicktime VR (available for years).
[via David Pogue, NYT]
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