Photosynth

The Son knows well what sort of diversions might amuse his father, so he pushed me in the direction of Photosynth, knowing that I could not resist having a go.

The process is simple enough. You take a series of photos, upload them to the Photosynth site, and an animation is created for you. You can take a series of photos moving around an object, or by standing still and rotating around a spot, or by walking forward and taking photos on front of you or to the side. Check out the Photosynth site for some examples.

I decided that my first attempt should be an animation moving around an object; and rather than going out and walking round a temple, which would have been far too much effort in the current heat, I decided to stay at home and make a synth of my Yashica, with the camera staying still and the object being rotated in front of it. This is how I set it up:

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The string on the base of the stool allowed me to identify the centre point, and I could then rotate the stool over the piece of white tape. The camera was set on manual everything, and then I just took a shot, moved the stool slightly, took another shot and then repeated this until I had moved through 360 degrees. I ended up with sixty nine JPEGs which I uploaded and let the software do its thing:

It’s not perfect, partially because the software never seems to manage a perfect job, and of course I should have spent more time preparing the background. Still, proof of concept; so now I can go out and try it on a temple or similar. For a real challenge I should try and create one with the drone…

Comments 🔗

2014-03-28 | Induced Chaos Photography says

That is cool. Now something more important. What strap is that on the camera? Looks like braided leather.

2014-03-28 | Spike says

It is indeed braided leather, which not only looks good, but has some flexibility which makes the camera feel even lighter. I like it a lot.

It’s made by Barton 1972: http://www.barton1972.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1_4&products_id=1#

2014-03-28 | Pete says

Sorry, can’t see anything - all I’m getting is this message

We can’t display this as an interactive synth. See Photosynth system requirements.

2014-03-28 | Induced Chaos Photography says

Pete check your Java and make sure its up to date you can do it at http://java.com. Make sure you have Java enabled in your browser.

2014-03-28 | Induced Chaos Photography says

Thanks for the strap info. I picked up the Braided XL as I tend to sling the camera across my body. The EM5 has a classic hippy strap, using a Black Rapid for the EM1, the Fuji X100s uses a Black Rapid knockoff I picked up for $5 at a camera show. The EM1 will now be pimped out with the Braided XL and the Black Rapid will move to the Ricoh GR. No. I don’t have a camera problem.

2014-03-28 | Spike says

Knowing you don’t have a problem reinforces my belief that I don’t have a problem either.

2014-03-28 | Andrew says

Could you not have done the same ( only better ) with the EM1’s built-in time lapse shots to make a movie? it might not have those weird reflection thingies happening all over the camera…of course you might have had to move 1mm at a time but you seem to have the free time to do things of that nature…

2014-03-30 | David Gedye says

Thanks for using our Photosynth technology. Beautiful shots and a good result. Pete – this experience uses WebGL in the browser (not Java or Silverlight). To get the full interactive experience you need to be running Internet Explorer 11 or a recent version of Chrome or Firefox.

2014-03-31 | Spike says

Thanks for the comment and the tips. I used Firefox (and a Mac, but we won’t go there…).

2014-03-31 | Pete says

Thanks for the ideas David. I wouldn’t be seen dead running any version of Internet Explorer, but I am running Firefox 28.0. That’s as up to date as it gets, and they made WebGL. Still getting the same message - could it be anything to do with the fact that I’m still on XP Pro, or is my graphics card really that useless?