Play with Photosynth Point Clouds

One of the lesser-known features in Photosynth, the software that stitches images together to deliver 3D experiences, is something known as the “point cloud mode.” By pressing “P” you can switch over into an alternative viewing mode which allows you to see the objects in the photos as a composition of points, like a black-and-white impressionist painting. You can even view objects from angles that you don’t have photos of! It sort of reminds me of something I would see on some TV crime-fighting show, where I would just roll my eyes and say “yeah right, like that exists.” Except that it’s not fake – it’s real. And it’s pretty awesome.

Before, the point cloud viewing mode was only available in the Windows client. But with a recent update, the Photosynth point clouds are now available from within Silverlight, too. This is great news for Linux and Mac users as they both use the Silverlight Viewer.

The update also included a lot of improvements like better object rotation and several minor bug fixes. 

Now go try it.