Dave Donaldson

Photosynth

Saturday, January 05 2008

My good buddy Chad (who works on some cool stuff with Neudesic) pinged me earlier today to ask if I've seen Photosynth. I hadn't, so he sent me the above link and another link to a video appropriately titled "Ridiculous Image Technology Coming" which shows off the Photosynth technology in stunning detail. The video is 6:40 long and is worth every second.

I couldn't believe my eyes. It looked like something you see as CGI in movies. You have to see this to believe it. I know that sounds a bit over the top, but it's true. Words don't do it justice. Just go watch it and then try to tell me your mouth doesn't drop more than once.

Here's the kicker: it works on the web, and it works now (pre-beta). It's a small ActiveX control, which I can only assume will move to Silverlight in the future, and works well (at least on my machine, and this is my laptop with only a decent integrated video card with 256MB of memory). To really experience Photosynth, take a second to install it and then start browsing the collections. When you can get up close and personal with the heat tiles of the space shuttle Endeavor as it performs a somersault so that the crew of the space station can take pictures of its underbelly, you know you're witnessing something amazing. As you go through it, use the scrollwheel on your mouse to zoom in to incredible detail.

As someone who is getting more and more into digital media (music, photos, videos), especially for my family life, I can't wait to see where this goes next. This is one of the most amazing things I've seen in a long, long time.