Saturday, January 31, 2009

Toying with Photosynth

Ever since Microsoft launched their new product - Photosynth, I've been tormenting my old Pentium 4 laptop to cough out (render) more 3D images of Figma Mirai at various viewing angles.


Test 1:
(8 Photos - 100% Synthy)
Initially, I tried to synth Figma Mirai with existing images I did previously. I was quite surprised to get 100% synthy, meaning all the images matched, but something's just not right...





Test 2:
(24 Photos - 21% Synthy)
This time, I used the nekomimi version of Figma Mirai as the test subject. I read through the Photosynth Photography Guide carefully and rendered my 3D model at every 15 degrees in hope of synthing Figma Mirai accurately. The result is a little disappointing though - only 21% synthy.





Test 3:
(72 Photos - 56% Synthy)
Then I tripled the number of photos from the previous test, i.e. I do a snapshot at every 5 degrees angle instead. Still quite disappointed with the result. But at least I get to see a fraction of the navigational halo now.





Test 4:
(72 Photos - 56% Synthy)
Since Photosynth detects textures instead of edges, I thought that by decorating the floor with some characters, I can raise the synthy percentage. Guess what? That didn't help at all... orz





Test 5:
(360 Photos - 100% Synthy)
I decided to go all out and rendered Figma Mirai by rotating the camera at every single degree. Although I scored a perfect synth this time, I still could not get a full navigational halo.





Conclusion:
The synthing algorithm requires more work. Photo quantity matters. And I need a better PC for faster rendering xD

2 comments:

  1. nice! better PC? what do you work on?

    THe ring seems to form when there are angles from higher and lower

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  2. An Intel Pentium 4 (2.80 GHz) Compaq laptop with a low-end graphics card. Took me about 48 hours to render all the low res pics you've seen above.

    Hmm... I don't recall reading anything about high/low anglers in the Photosynth Photography Guide though. Would love to hear more comments on how to get a full ring.

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