Photosynth - 3D Walkthroughs Created from Photos

Microsoft has just has announced that Photosynth, its ground breaking 3D photo display technology, has moved from their demo stage and is now available for photographers to process and upload their own Photosynths. The free service works only on Windows XP and Vista, both for preparing and viewing Photosynths.

Photosynth automatically stitches together digital photographs to create abstract but high-resolution 3D re-creations (dubbed a synth) of photos submitted by users. Previously, the website had some ready made demos but Microsoft just announced they have upgraded the photosynth website to allow everyone to upload up to 20GB of photos.

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes as this technology continues to improve it will have some Legitimate commercial applications. Based on the latest release of Photosynth's new website along with some of the articles I have read on their plans for this technology, it is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

As the user base grows and more and more creative demos are displayed we believe photosynth will catch on like wildfire.

Image Source: Webware.com

3D in the Courtroom Part 2 (Medical Animation)

In yesterday's post, 3Dwalkthroughs.com discussed how 3D animation is helping lawyers to visually demonstrate their cases. Whether this means re-creating someone falling off a balcony or getting hit by a car, attorneys are using 3D animation to make or defend their cases in the courtoom.

Another huge application for 3D animation is the medical industry. 3D animations can help to attorneys demonstrate whether or not there was any malpractice by a physician. Obviously every last detail of a medical 3D animation needs to correct as the opposing attorney will seek to discredit the 3D animation at every turn.

Another less confrontational use of medical animation is by pharmaceutical companies. Drug companies often use 3D animations to help demonstrate how a specific drug works on the body. This can be used to train reps of the company as well as for sales of marketing of the drug to the public.

The reason I posted about this type of animation for two days in a row is that it is quite fascinating and different than the architectural 3D animation we typically write about.

3D Animation in The Court Room

3Dwalkthroughs.com came across an interesting article in Fortune Small Business Magazine about a few animation studios that are creating 3D animations to help clients win or defend lawsuits.

With the prices of 3D animation decreasing over the last few years, 3D animation is being used by more and more attorneys to help with their cases. According to the article, 25% of firms with 50-99 attorneys used 3D animation in 2007.

Due to the sensitive nature of the materials, the 3D animation used by attorney's are scrutinized very carefully. So much in fact,there have been instances where 3D animations have actually cost attorney's their case.

There seems to be a fine line between successfully using subtle visual clues to influence a jury and being too manipulative. Interestingly enough many 3D animations are actually so well produced that they result in a settlement before ever reaching the courtroom.

I do not envision that 3Dwalkthroughs.com will shift it's gears to focus on this market any time soon but it does seem very interesting.

3D Virtual World Technology and Social Networks

3Dwalkthroughs.com and Fitspott are facing a unique challenge. We are trying to determine the best way to integrate the 3D virtual world technology we have at our disposal into the phase 2 launch of Fitspott's social networking platform.

We are confident that integrating 3D virtual world technology will wow our members from a visual standpoint, but this is not enough. It is of utmost importance that if we are to integrate 3D virtual world technology into the Fitspott platform, it most improve the overall experience and provide a real value to our members.

The ideas that are on the table are quite interesting and I believe that we are closing in on the answer. We certainly welcome any suggestions and ideas regarding what would be the most beneficial way to integrate 3D virtual technology into Fitspott.

We understand that it will be much easier to offer suggestions once the platform launches in Mid-September and people have a much better understanding of the nuances of the site.

Fitspott Friday Update (August 15, 2008)

3Dwalkthroughs.com and the rest of the Fitspott team are pleased to introduce our first official press release.

Fitspott To Launch A Social Networking Platform Focused Exclusively On The Health and Fitness Industry

A social networking platform targeting the health and fitness industry will open the doors to the beta version of its platform in Mid-September. “The most popular social networks are reaching a critical mass which will result in the emergence of much more targeted social networks. Our target is the health and fitness industry,” says Erin Hurry, Co-Founder of Fitspott.

The Fitspott team is made up of a group of highly motivated and diverse entrepreneurs, athletes and creative minds. We have set forth a goal of creating a social network which will give trainers, members, athletes, coaches, corporate fitness executives, health clubs and basically anyone with any level of interest in health and fitness, a robust platform to meet, communicate, get support, conduct business, exchange ideas and more.

One of the primary goals of Fitspott, aside from creating a unique and valuable platform with robust communication tools, is to organize the very large and convoluted health and fitness industry into easy to navigate sub-communities of members with similar interests, goal, skills, wants and needs.

Fitspott has scoured the internet, becoming educated on the pros and cons of existing social networks, and has committed to using this knowledge to create the most powerful, yet simple platform for all of our members.

“Unlike many self serving health and fitness communities that preach one philosophy, are too clinical, or are just one big advertisement, the direction of our growth will be determined by our members” say’s, David Gise, Co-Founder of Fitspott.

Whether your goals include improving your body, business, network, game, network, income potential, information resources, eating habits or simply your quality of life…Help Is on the Way!

Fitspott is a social networking platform with an ever growing number of tools designed to help you meet and exceed these goals. Benefit from the Power of a Goal Driven Community.

Using 3D Floor Plans, 3D Renderings and 3D Walkthroughs to Sell Your Ideas

3Dwalkthroughs.com has just started with a few new projects that are not being used for sales and marketing purposes...at least in the traditional sense of the word. The projects involve creating 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Floor Plans and 3D Renderings for home theater installers, kitchen and bath centers and interior designers.

The accuracy that can be achieved with our 3D assets is a great way for our clients to show their clients what something will look like before the work begins. In many cases our clients utilize our services before they even offically get a job. Once they have a qualified client in their grasp, blowing them away with detailed 3D perspectives is really helping them close deals.

The turnaround time for many of our products is about the same as it takes our clients to generate a detailed proposal. Many of our clients have commented that being able to include 3D assets in their bid helped them to win jobs they thought were longshots.

Considering the challenging climate of the current real estate industry, any tool that could help promote a competitive edge should be taken very seriously.

Scientists Develop Way of Capturing Movement of a Body in 3D

3Dwalkthroughs.com came across an article in Science Daily about a new technique that allows for the capture of a human body in 3D. The technique was developed by researchers from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the University of Lovaina (UCL), in Belgium.

The process uses 2 video cameras to capture human movement, and makes it possible to recognize body movements and display them in three dimensions on a computer, according to the journal Multimedia Tools & Applications.

The technology is interesting as it does not require any special suits or receivers, using a simple video camera to film the body's movement. One of the obvious markets for this is the interactive gaming market. If exergamers can lose the Wii controllers and other devices that might restrict their movement, the level of interaction within these games will be much greater than they are today.

The low level of complexity in this system allows it to be applied in real time on any personal computer, with a margin of error of between 4% and 9% in real situations, depending on the context and the quality of the segmentation carried out.

Source Science Times

The more sensitive the camera with regards to translating to the movement of a human body to a 3D computer object, the more immersive will be the experience for the end user.