When it was announced in July 2006, I was particularly interested in Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth because of the multiple possibilities of the concept. Since the first screenshots were shown in the same month, the Photosynth crew has been working like mad and today they released a technology preview of the software. My first impression? Amazing. Photosynth takes a collection of photos and arranges them into a three-dimensional model on screen and in real time. The results are amazing and I cannot believe this is not even in beta phase! Read on for a full review.
Photosynth gives you wings
As I’ve said, Photosynth takes a collection of photos and arranges them into a three-dimensional model of whatever they show. You can then walk and fly around the model, viewing selected photos from each area of the model. The model allows you to see where photos were taken in relation to where other photos were taken. Even you may not remember where you’ve taken each photo from but the algorithm behind Photosynth can work out where 
each photo was taken, and what it is of, just by looking at other photographs in the collection – rather clever.
You’ll notice that as a collection is analysed, a bunch of dots start to appear. In a matter of a few seconds you start to recognise features such as buildings, columns, doors and spires. The software analyses each photo and picks out distinctive features like the edges of windows and the edge of buildings and creates a three-dimensional model out of the dots. By comparing photos, Photosynth can also calculate the distance between objects and 
so create a 3-D view. It’s amazing stuff and it really does work. By flying around the model, you can make out buildings, roofs and even roads just by zooming in and out of the matrix of coloured dots.
Controlling the Seadragon
Photosynth works by incorporating the technology of Seadragon, which Microsoft acquired in February 2006, which means that scrolling, zooming and any other transitions and transformations are extremely smooth and fast. The user interface is rather nice and the ‘leaf buttons’ in the top right of the screen is very easy to use and understand. 
This technology preview provides 3 areas of user interaction: the ‘leaf buttons’, the 4 movements arrows to the sides, top and bottom and the photo viewer at the bottom of the screen. The ‘leaf buttons’ are understandable by the icons on them. The letter icon allows you to e-mail a particular view to a friends – or even a whole collection of photos – via e-mail, the camera icon lets you see where each picture was taken from in the model, the group icon lets you find pictures that are like the one you’re currently viewing, the orbit icon allows you to ‘swing’ around the model as if you were flying, there’s the obligatory zoom in and zoom out buttons and the home icon lets you view the photo that most incorporates the whole model.
Those are the 7 very simple, very intuitive controls that would probably be most used. The bottom of the screen offers the user a chance to browse photos that are near the current photo they’re viewing. Every time you view a different photo on the model, the horizontal bar shuffles itself to show the current photo’s thumbnail and also the thumbnails of any photos near it. The movements are very smooth and the bar also gives you the option to zoom in on the current photo if there’s a better quality photo of an area within it.
Uses of Photosynth
Photosynth has a world of possible uses ahead of it. On the official site, they say uses could include the obvious revolution in how we view our photos for example. Another use they hope to reach would be to utilise the part of the software that looks for like images in another way. Say you found a picture on the internet of somewhere but didn’t know what the place was called – all you’d do was take a picture of it with a phone or a screenshot and use the software to look for the image and any information provided with it. 
It’s all very exciting and interesting.
Another use, and one potentially more profitable for Microsoft, would be aiming the software at gaming companies. This software can create an almost complete three-dimensional model from a bunch of pictures – this is much quicker than creating one from scratch and is also much more realistic as it’s literally based on real dimensions and a real environment. With the rise of high definition televisions, games and the demand for more and more realistically graphic games, this software could become invaluable. If adapted correctly, there could be a huge demand from the games industry.
My final thoughts
There are multiple, practical uses of this software even at it’s current stage of development. If the developers behind it see their dream come true, we will change the way we look at our photos. Personally, I don’t think it will make a huge impact but it’s certainly an innovative way of browsing your photos at a particular destination. I like the user interface and smooth controls that the software employs as the transitions are very natural and I encountered no lag what so ever when using it.
I do have some beef though in that Photosynth has been built as an ActiveX control rather than a standalone piece of software. This alienates a lot of people from using the software. Although you really expect Microsoft to use their own proprietary formats, screenshots had suggested that it was going to be an installable piece of software. Overall, I like it a lot and can’t wait until another release is announced where we can provide our own photo collections to be analysed. The preview shows the immense power of the software and would be a great companion to the Windows Vista operating system as well. Go and have a look (Internet Explorer 6 and 7 only at the moment) and try it out. Leave a comment if you would.
Update: I’ve been informed by a developer that they’re going to provide some logos people can use and some cool desktop backgrounds on their site later today. Thanks David Geyde!
