Microsoft intros Photosynth 3-D image modelling

Stitches together thousands of images into one

Researchers from Microsoft and the University of Washington have developed a photo-browsing system that combines thousands of online images into a 3-D model, which gives viewers the sensation of smoothly gliding around the scene from every angle.

The prototype technology, dubbed Photosynth, can be previewed here, and will be available for download later this year.

Noah Snavely, a graduate student in the department of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington, and associate professor Steven Seitz collaborated with Microsoft researcher Richard Szeliski to develop the technology that will ultimately enable the Photosynth prototype. Their work combined both new and established techniques in computer vision; image-based modelling and rendering; image browsing, retrieval and annotation; and key-point detection and matching to present unstructured collections of photos in a 3-D perspective.

Full article: vnunet.com