Photosynth

It’s a sad day, but we knew it was coming. We closed the Photosynth service and Web site today.

Key parts of the Photosynth code live on in other Microsoft products, and we’re proud of the influence Photosynth had on photo technology across the industry during its nine-year life.

We hope that everyone who wanted to recover their synths and panoramas from the site were able to do so before the shutdown. As we announced earlier, Microsoft is not keeping a copy of them going forward. These were yours, and we had a license to them while the service was running.

Photosynth changed the way some of us went about capturing a memorable place. It was a unique way to document a location in a moment, and perhaps no moment ever surpassed the one we shared with the world in January 2008. Here’s one frame from that great synth.

Thank you to the community who made Photosynth a great way to explore the unique places and moments of the last nine years.

Ahead of our February 6th shutdown we released an offline viewer for most of the content on the Photosynth site last week.

In February 2017 Microsoft will decommission the Photosynth website and services. We regularly review our portfolio of products and evaluate customer use and feedback to adjust our areas of investment based on how our services are being used. We understand that innovative photo experiences are important and are committed to development efforts in the experiences that mean the most to our customers.

The Photosynth site will be shut down on February 6, 2017. In preparation, we have created a way for you to download your “synths” and panoramas and view them locally on Windows or Mac computers. Microsoft will not retain any data after the site shutdown, so if you want to keep your creations you will need to download them before this date. Note that we will only be distributing a viewer, not a way to make more synths on your own computer. If there are some final places you want to capture in Photosynth, you’ve got a few more months to do so.

Here’s how to download your synths and view them offline:

First install the new offline viewer from download.microsoft.com using this link for Windows or this link for Mac. If you have a 32-bit version of Windows, use this version of the app. This viewer supports both panoramas and “Tech Preview” synths. Unfortunately, we do not have an offline viewer for the original synths.

Go to https://photosynth.net, and sign-in to your Photosynth account.

Click “My Photosynths”.

Click on one of your panoramas or Tech Preview synths, and look for the “Export” button shown below. If you do not see the export button it is because you are not signed in, or you are not the owner.

Clicking the Export button will cause the pano or synth to be packaged for export. This may take a few minutes, especially if the synth is very large. You will see the button change to “Export Requested”, and sometime later it will change to “Download” signaling that the packaging has completed and your synth or pano is ready to download. (Note that you do NOT need to stay on the page waiting for the packaging to complete; you can return to your library and schedule another synth or pano for export while you are waiting.)

Click Download and wait for the file to be downloaded to your computer. Depending on the size of your pano or synth, and the speed of your connection this could take minutes or even hours.

Today we are announcing that we are retiring the Photosynth Mobile Apps. We are doing this because the new Photosynth Preview technology and its cloud processing is a more immersive way to capture a place than the spherical panoramas that our apps produce.

What this means to you If you use the Photosynth Windows Phone App or the Photosynth iOS App you can continue to use it, but it is now officially unsupported, and will not be maintained going forward. Both apps will be withdrawn from their respective stores.

Image Composite Editor 2.0 is here

Microsoft Research's Image Composite Editor is the best way to get high resolution stitched panoramas into Photosynth, and today we launched ICE 2.0. It's got a slew of great new features, including the ability to extract panoramas from video, a magical image-completion capability, and a built-in Photosynth uploader. No longer do you need to download a 2nd application to upload your panos to http://photosynth.net. If you care about the quality of our stitched panoramas, whether or not you want to share them on the Web, you should get ICE 2.0. It's free, and it's great.

Photosynth experts know that we have two ways to process a circle of photos taken from a single location. The first one is a classic stitched panorama, made with ICE2.0. This was hand-held, but note how the bottom and top edges have been "completed" so there are no jagged edges.

Below is a Photosynth Tech Preview panorama from exactly the same image set. The field of view is much narrower since you only see a single photo at a time, but notice how some parallax in the movement of the camera shows up as a 3D effect as you pan.

You already know that the Photosynth mobile app allows you to create full spherical panoramas. Up until now the resolution of these spheres has been no more than 4-5 megapixels. That size makes for quick uploads, but it doesn’t give you as much detail as you might like when you’re in some really interesting place.

Today we are proud to announce an upgrade to Photosynth for Windows Phone: we now support a high-resolution mode that allows you to capture up to 11 megapixels in a sphere. The examples below show the noticeable difference.

    Standing from the same spot below the Space Needle, here’s a tight crop from the High-Resolution panorama (left) and Standard-Resolution panorama (right)

  You enable this mode from our settings page:

  Under the covers we have changed out the entire stitching system, and now use the latest and greatest Image Composite Editor engine from our friends over in Microsoft Research. Not only does this support higher resolution stitching, but also improved scene carving and image blending.

It’s a double win, and we look forward to seeing some of your best high-resolution panos uploaded to the Photosynth site. Of course, if you want to go for extreme resolution, you will still want to use the desktop ICE tool, which can stitch at any resolution up to a whopping 30 gigapixels. Whichever way you do it, keep capturing those amazing places!

Download the latest Photosynth for Windows Phone 8 app here.

Today we’re happy to announce that we’ve added an “export” feature to the Photosynth site.

For stitched panoramas uploaded from your mobile phone or the Image Composite Editor, you can now download a “.pano” file suitable for viewing in full spherical goodness on Windows 8.1.

The built-in Photos app on Windows 8.1 knows how to view .pano files, opening them just like JPGs and videos. And like those standard image types, .panos can be uploaded to OneDrive with good results:

This works for mobile panos, and also for the gigapixel behemoths that some of you like to create.  For example, the 1.2 gigapixel view of Bryce Canyon shot by our own Jeff Schoner can be found here on the Photosynth site. Jeff exported it because he wanted to include it on OneDrive with the regular photos of his trip to the Utah national parks. Here’s the version on OneDrive: http://1drv.ms/1lflvuz

Finally, we now also support the export of Technology Preview Photosynths, the super smooth ones you’ve been making since December.

Your download comes as a Zip file, and for now all you can do is inspect the contents. Want more? Stay tuned for an exciting announcement that will open up lots of possibilities.

CC Image courtesy of lempel_ziv on Flickr 

Over the years there have been hundreds of synths and panoramas taken of and from the Seattle Space Needle, but this is a different story...

A few months ago, we were approached by the management of the Space Needle who wanted to give their visitors a sense of what it felt like to be at some of the other iconic locations in Seattle. That’s exactly what Photosynth is designed for, so we advised them as they did some truly amazing Photosynth shoots in the Seattle Aquarium, Pike Place Market, Century Link Field, and a houseboat on Lake Union.  The results live in 3 kiosks at the Observation Deck level of the Space Needle, and they call it their “520 Teleporter”. (The Space Needle is 520' above the ground). It's being unveiled today, and the large-screen, full-touch experience is spectacular.

Here’s a sample of their coverage of Century Link Field. It’s the Seattle Sounder’s FC locker room a few hours before their MLS soccer game with FC Dallas in May.

Seattle Sounders FC Locker Room by TheSpaceNeedle

Our  team has been hard at work since the initial release in December and we’re releasing another update to the Technology Preview today.  Highlights of this latest update include:

Synth highlights: You can create highlights to annotate your synth.  When looking at one of your synths, you will see a New Highlights button alongside the playback icons in the middle of the player.  Click on this button to create a new highlight.  Highlights support text and links.   

Geo-tagging my synths: You can specify a location for the synths you create.  You can provide the location information when creating a new synth or by editing a synth’s information at a later time.  Once a synth is geo-tagged, everyone can see its location.  

Map view of my synths: You can look at your own synths and panoramas on a map.  Select my mapped synths from the drop-down menu attached to your username in the upper-right corner of the navigation bar.  

Geo-browsing synths: To help you discover other users’ creations, Photosynth enables you to browse synths and panoramas on a map. From the explore menu in the top navigation bar, click on mapped synths to access this new map view.  Simply search for your favorite city or zoom in to an area that interests you.  

New viewing experience: The synth player now shows the synth’s information while the synth is loading.  Just click away from the information pane to start playing the synth.   

Synth to synth navigation: You can navigate from one synth to another without having to go back to the feed every time.  To jump directly to the next synth in the feed, click on the arrows on the left and right sides of the screen while viewing a synth.   

Feed for my favorite synths: To see a feed of all the synths you’ve previously liked, select my favorites from the drop-down menu attached to your username in the upper-right corner of the navigation bar.   

I hope you’re as excited about this release as we are.  What do you think of these new features? What would you like to see in future updates of the Tech Preview?

Happy synthing!

Part 6 covered how to capture walk synths. This part focuses on tips for panorama synths. (Want a quick start? Check out Part 1.)

Most photo enthusiasts are already familiar with the idea of a panorama. You stand in one spot while trying to keep the nodal point of the camera in one location, and you capture shots that get stitched together into a seamless, wide-angle experience. Indeed, Photosynth has supported these stitched panoramas since 2010.

The new Photosynth engine is not a stitcher however. So while you can upload frames suitable for stitching in the new Photosynth Technology Preview, you will get a photo-by-photo viewing experience, not a wide-angle stitch. Here’s an example below.

Christopher Hoff Memorial Show by David-Photosynth-Team 

What is truly compelling about panoramas in the new technology is that you can use parallax if you’re in the right location and you shoot correctly. Check out this amazing forest panorama.

mossybranches PS2 pano. Nook Trail Washington by dustywings 

Note how it has real 3D—the foreground really does move in front of the background!

To take a panorama for the new Photosynth Preview, stand in one spot and rotate the camera around you, making sure to get lots of overlap between your photos. Shoot in landscape mode, and at a wide focal length.

How can you make sure that the panorama synth you are capturing takes advantage of parallax?

First, you need to choose a location to photograph where there are foreground and background objects throughout the area, as was the case with the forest scene above.

Next, you have to break the most important rule about shooting a stitched panorama: you need to introduce parallax between the shots. The easiest way to do this is to shoot with your camera at arm’s length as you swing around. That way there are at least a few inches of horizontal parallax between shots.

Finally, you have to remember the three-view overlap rule. So, instead of overlapping successive photos by approximately 20% of a frame as you would do for stitched panoramas, you need to overlap them by ~70%. You’ll shoot way more photos, but the results will be very cool.

One final word about these two kinds of panoramas: At present, you can’t control which type of panorama the Photosynth cloud processor creates. If it detects parallax in all of the frames, it will attempt to create a parallax panorama. If it doesn’t, you’ll get a flat panorama. Here’s an example that ended up as a flat panorama even though there was parallax in almost all of the frames.

The Fairmont Empress Hotel by idoMS 

Part 5 covered tips to let you capture great wall synths. This part gives to-the-point tips on how to capture the best walk synths. (Want to know how to start capturing a synth? Begin with Part 1.)

Shoot a walk in the direction of movement of the camera. You can certainly turn corners, but the sharper the corner you turn, the more disorienting it is for viewers. See this 180-degree hook at the end of this otherwise smooth walk.

Kubota Garden Walk by David-Photosynth-Team 

Try not to turn in place—turn gradually while moving forward. Here’s a great example of a walk in the snow toward a church.

Union Common & First Church Marlborough, MA by sergioni 

How many shots you take is very dependent on how much ground your walk covers. In general, more shots tend to smooth things, but too many makes viewing your synth seem laggy or slow in loading, so it’s a balancing act to find the sweet spot. Shoot up to 200 photos, but only if you need that many to cover the space with three-view overlap.

What’s Next?

Part 4 covered capturing spin synths. This part gives to-the-point tips on how to capture wall synths. (Want to know how to start capturing a synth? Begin with Part 1.)

Shoot in landscape mode at a wide focal length. Ideally, take wall shots at approximately 90 degrees from the direction of movement of the camera. It’s okay to vary that angle as the scene requires, but do not expect good results if your angle of shooting changes (even gradually) by more than 45 degrees.

Autumn Leaves by wideangle 

In particular, do not start shooting a left wall, then rotate to shoot fully forward or fully backward. If you do, it creates a very awkward viewing experience.

As well as making sure that each point in the scene appears in at least 3 separate images, shoot a few extra photos at each end of the wall. In other words, have a four- or even five-view overlap for some features near the very beginning and the end of the sequence. This should remove any jerky behavior you may otherwise see at the very beginning and end of walls.

What’s Next?

The Photosynth team has released another update to its Technology Preview today.  Some highlights of the update include:

New ways to explore synths: To help you discover other users’ synths, we now provide you with different views. From all recent synths to all-time favorites to your own my feed – you’ll quickly get addicted to browsing new synths.

Synth comments: You can now not only like synths in the Tech Preview but comment on them.  Let other synth creators know how awesome their synths are.

My feed and following users: You can follow another user’s account.  Once you follow a user, their synths will appear in your new my feed under the explore dropdown.

Featured synths: The Tech Preview already has a featured synths view of the most interesting synths being created. Get featured on this page by our editorial team and you’ll now be notified of your achievement via email.  New featured synths will now also display a shiny featured badge to let the world know.

Email notifications: You can now receive email notifications when someone likes one of your synths, comments on one or replies to one of your comments.  Don’t care for email notifications?  You can unsubscribe from any or all notifications through your user settings.    

Geotagged synths: If you upload a synth where at least one of the images contains GPS coordinates, we now give you the option to show the location of your synth to other users.  Geotagged synths also now show a map of their locations in the synth information view.

In addition to all these great new features, you will also no longer need to sign up to the Tech Preview separately from the Photosynth website. 

Let us know what you think and would like to see in future updates.  Happy synthing!

Part 3 covered expert tips that apply to all four shapes of synths. This part gets to the nitty gritty on capturing spin and turntable synths. (New to capturing synths? Begin with Part 1.)

Before you start capturing for a spin, try to select some point that you will keep roughly in the center of your frame for every shot. Shooting with this in mind helps to make the viewing very smooth. This point could be as obvious and visible as the church steeple in the middle of the town square, but it doesn’t have to be a visible point at all. Think of it as the center of gravity of your spin, and try to keep your camera pointing toward it in all shots.

Living Room Spin by ps2demo1 

Shoot in landscape mode, and at a wide focal length. Shoot at least 20–30 photos, making sure to overlap your shots a lot. If you are trying to capture something with many holes, shoot 40 or more photos as you move around the object to reduce 3D artifacts. What do we mean by a lot of holes? One like the synth below.

Ai Wei Wei Spin by David-Photosynth-Team 

If you are able to shoot all the way around an object, be careful when completing the loop. Make sure you do not inadvertently spiral in or spiral out. The easiest way to ensure this is to put a marker on the ground where you shot the first frame, then make sure you shoot the last frame from the exact same spot.

Photographing an object on a turntable is a special case of a spin. The camera isn’t rotating around the scene; the scene is rotating in front of the camera. The rule of thumb for turntables is to make anything that doesn’t rotate disappear. In practice, this means that any nonrotating background needs to be as featureless as possible. As long as all the features that Photosynth sees are rotating, the results will be good.

In the below turntable spin, I placed a large piece of white cardboard underneath and behind the turntable, and overexposed the shots a little to reduce any natural variation in the cardboard. The highly textured linen cloth that the stones are resting on has many features, but this cloth is rotating as part of the scene, so it is helping Photosynth rather than confusing it.

Wrapped Stones, 41 frames by ps2demo1 

What’s Next?

Part 2 covered the four shapes of synths you can make. Here are some expert shooting tips that apply to all of the synth shapes. (Just getting started? Get a quick start with Part 1.)

Rigid Features and Three-View Overlap

Photosynth constructs a 3D model by recognizing features (distinct points, usually) present in three or more photographs taken from different places. We call this the three-view overlap, and without it, Photosynth fails.

Parts of the scene that move are challenging to Photosynth. It really needs lots of rigid features (things that stay where they are in the world from shot to shot) to do its 3D magic. That’s why people who are walking or even turning their head between shots aren’t modeled properly. They stay in the photos, but as your viewers move through the resulting synth, the transitions are a little rough. Here’s an example highlighting these issues:

Medieval Chaos 9th Annual First Sunday Tournament by kam1073

Other parts of the scene that move (such as water, or leaves in a breeze) or are fairly featureless (such as a big white wall) also do not help the 3D reconstruction. These things can be part of the scene, though, and as long as there are enough rigid features with three-view overlap, Photosynth can still construct a synth.

Photo Count

Photosynth requires at least three photos to make a synth, and there is a current maximum of 200 photos per synth. You’ll have fewer artifacts in the viewing experience if you use more photos. However, shooting so many photos that there is only a tiny difference between successive images (for example, a spin of 100 photos) is counterproductive. The viewing experience suffers from the extra images. Use up to 200 photos in a walk or a wall only if you need that many to cover the space with three-view overlap. For spins and panoramas, don’t exceed 60 shots.

Loops

Spins and panoramas often connect into full 360-degree loops, but walks and even walls can also form loops if the shape of the space you’re capturing permits. If you are planning to shoot a loop, it’s a good idea to mark the ground with your starting point so that you can return to the exact place you started. If you don’t, it’s very easy to spiral in or spiral out as you complete the loop, resulting in a jarring jump as somebody views the transition between your last image and your first one. Here's an example of a looped walk:

House Walkthrough by David 

Shooting Order

Photosynth pays attention to the “Date Taken” field in the EXIF of your photos, and it always tries to match the features of a photo with the features in the photos taken immediately before and immediately after the current one. Do not be tempted to skip sections of your path and come back to them later. If you do, you’ll end up with only a partial result.

Depth of Field

Don’t shoot a deep scene with a very narrow depth of field. The Bokeh effect looks beautiful to our eyes, but doesn’t give Photosynth the features it needs to do its reconstruction. Try to keep to an aperture of F4.0 or above unless dealing with a flat wall. Aside from that, you don’t need to keep your aperture constant as you move through the scene.

GPS Data

Although we do not yet put your synths on a map, we expect this capability to come relatively soon. So, don’t strip any GPS data from photos of any synth you would like to display on a map in the future.

What’s Next?

Part 1 gave you a quick start. To capture a synth, you need to think about which shape (spin, panorama, walk, or wall) you are capturing before you start shooting. How do you determine what shape to use for a particular location? Start by thinking about the smooth path of photos you will be producing.

If your motion is basically forward relative to the direction of shooting, you’re making a walk.

If your motion is sideways relative to the shooting direction, it gets trickier.

You’re making a spin if your shooting path is curved and you are generally pointing at some central location (even if this central location is obscured in some photos).

You are making a panorama if your shooting path is curved and you are shooting away from some point behind you.

Otherwise, you are making a wall.

We hope to make this choice automatic in the future, but because we are still previewing this new Photosynth technology, this choice is manual for now.

Keeping in mind the synth shape you are going to create also helps to make sure you do not upload any extraneous photos. Our rejection logic is not yet perfect, so one irrelevant photo can do damage to your synth.

The New Photosynth Synth Shapes

What’s Next?