NASA Taps Microsoft PhotoSynth to Show 3D Endeavor Photos

Space Shuttle Endeavor at Launch Pad

The U.S. space shuttle Endeavor lifts off to space tomorrow, and to highlight the launch Microsoft teams up with NASA to show Photosynth 3D photos of the spacecraft and how the space agency prepares it for takeoff.

The photos can be seen online at Microsoft Live Labs, the software giant’s research division which developed Photosynth.

Photosynth technology uses standard 2D pictures of similar things, analyzes their similarities and turns them into a new 3D environment. Viewers can then fly through the scene and look at the images from various angles, or zoom in to specific parts of the 3D images.

To produce the 3D images, a Microsoft team has been allowed exclusive access to the space shuttle to document its preparation.

NASA might also use Photosynth to provide 3D images of other projects, including views of the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope, or even to view landing sites on the Moon and the planet Mars.

[Site: MS Live Labs]

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.