Fun with Photosynth

Over the summer of 2010, I explored Microsoft’s free photo to 3D model tool, photosynth. I had not been yielding good results, so I looked at some successful examples. Most of them are very interactive, in depth, and contain many pictures that overlap each other. Armed with this information, I went off and tried to do what Microsoft promised I could: make a model in 3D space from 2D photographs; photogrammetry.

My first attempt this time around, the bust of Sophocles at the Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen:

Not too shabby.

This is all well and good, but what can I do with it?
Well, after a messy process involving three different pieces of software I finally got the point model into Rhino.
I then used the MeshFromPoints command to attempt to interpolate the coordinate data I had.

The results? Not so stellar, but it’s a start.

All in all, I would call it a success.

NOW – the big guns. I’m talking Viking Stave Churches. Today at Ringebu I walked around the entire church and took approximately 30 photos at the same exposure with a significant amount of overlap. I hypothesized that the overlap ( in addition to wealth of information and perspective) is one of the most important elements in a good photosynth.

And now, the results!

To prove that photosynth really made a true 3D model, check it out from plan view!
(It even picks up the trees!)

And finally, I brought it into Rhino to create a 3D object…

Ok, so this didn’t turn out exactly how I had planned. Rhino’s mesh tool is not so great at working with the fuzzy data it gets from photosynth. While the models are enough to give us an idea of the space or area, the technology does not yet seem to be at a point where it can faithfully reproduce objects in a 3D model via photograph.

More to come!