Microsoft, NASA team up on 3D photo shoot of Endeavour
By Darren Murph 
posted Aug 7th 2007 9:27AM
posted Aug 7th 2007 9:27AM
As NASA awaits the newly rescheduled launch of its latest mission, Microsoft has been busy creating a "3D montage" of the space shuttle Endeavour. According to the team, this venture will enable individuals around the globe to "view 3D images of Endeavour and surrounding buildings at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida before it launches into space." The environments are being constructed using hundreds of snapshots and an imaging technology dubbed Photosynth, which stitches together 2D digital images to give a three-dimensional view "that can be navigated and explored in a highly intuitive manner." This go 'round, it seems that the goal was simply to provide a wow-factor to remote onlookers, but both entities are reportedly "looking into ways of using this new technology to support future missions." Check out the results here.[Via PCWorld]
Unfortunately it all has to be done around this big coffee table...
Oh relax ya babies.
I was only kidding.
Photosynth is amazing... I am still amazed every time i see these new collections!
I saw this already, and it's pretty cool. I really love how I can view photos in a 3D panoramic view like that. It is so awesome. Photosynth seems awesome. Imagine if users could submit there own photos to be Photosynthed. That would be pretty neat, except it's still in research. It's been out for a long time already for previews.
I think this is one of the examples of how at least Microsoft Research is still on the ball. I've seen some other cool concept things, and little projects they've been making. And it seems kind of promising.
I've used it, but was not thoroughly impressed. What the program was trying to do was intuitive... I could see which pictures were about to be activated next, etc. How I was going about controlling Photosynth was not intuitive. Does that make sense?
In a nutshell, the control scheme leaves much to be desired.
Brad did you use the zoom functionality when checking this out? IMO the amazing thing about this (beyond the compositing) is when you start zooming in on the images. Check out the "Gary Faigin Art Studio" collection and start zooming in on some of the *80* megapixel pictures of the paintings... you can zoom in without even a stutter from the app.. on an 80 MP picture! You can see the texture of the paint man! Plus i love the way you can link in a collection to certain picture and at a certain zoom level... its very impressive!
personally I thought it was kind of lame and hope NASA did pay much for this. it is rendering a 3D shuttle but just some different 2D views that you can manipulate. since I have seen all these pics before it was nothing new for me.
Brad, did you zoom while using it? The real power (I think) is seen when you go through the "Gary Faigin Art Studio" collection and start zooming in on an *80* megapixel image without so much as a stutter from the zoom... you can see the texture of the paint on the canvas... its amazing! Not to mention the way you can link within a collection to certain points of a picture at a certain zoom level... its very cool!
why does this site always do this!@ You submit a comment but it does nothing... no confirm no nothing... and your comment doesnt show up... then when you comment again all of sudden it appears out of no where... grrrr
Wow!
They've "invented" Quicktime VR. Maybe they should patent it.
Too bad Apple invented it first in the 90's...
+1 ignorant. You do realise that PhotoSynth isn't even remotely like Quicktime VR, right?
damn, no way to view it if you don't have windows.
It's a pity NASA and the space shuttle aren't that impressive, but it's one of the best choices I guess.