Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Photosynth Team Does It Again

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the see-what-i-see dept.

STFS found an update to the Photosynth stories that we already ran. You might remember the amazing photo tourism demos. Well, this new version kicks things up several notches with paths and color correction to more smoothly transition between photos taken in different lighting conditions. As before, this stuff is worth your time. Check it out.

3 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'm confused by all this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    It needs neither input of coordinates or input of a rough 3d layout. It generates its own 3d model by analyzing the photographs programatically, you do not even need to tell the program they were taking in the same area. The photographs are then automatically applied to the generated 3d model and finally it lets you move freely in the generated 3d world selecting the best photo matching your current viewpoint while applying perspective remapping, color correction and lens correction.

  2. Re:I'm confused by all this by hkz · · Score: 5, Informative

    From what I took away from the original demo, they were doing everything algorithmically. The original demo showed a wireframe of the Notre Dame generated completely from amateur pictures, then overlaid with those same pictures to give it texture. So yes, it is quite impressive. I'd be surprised if Google wasn't doing anything similar for Google Maps though.

  3. Re:No sense to limit how many photos you take... by ka9dgx · · Score: 5, Informative
    Because a video camera is nowhere near the quality of a still image, still cameras will win for a number of reasons:
    • Still Camera - less motion blur, if any
    • Bigger sensor - less noise
    • Focus mechanism - an SLR has a much better focusing mechanism
    • Image Compression - almost all video codecs record a stream of images, and do not optimize the quality of an individual frame
    • Exposure time - A still camera can take from 1/8000 second to 5 minute exposures for a single frame, as opposed to a fixed time of about 1/30 second for NTSC
    • Aperture - A still camera can control the aperture to get desired depth of field

    So, those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.