FAQ

Is Photosynth free?

Yes! Most Photosynth use is free, provided that you follow our Terms of Use, and create “public” Photosynths. You can make public Photosynths, view them, share them with others, and embed them on your website all for free for up to 20 GB of storage – even if your Photosynths are commercial in nature. Details on our commercial licensing can be found here.

Are the images I upload made public?

Only if you want. Any Photosynth can be “unlisted.” This won’t make it totally private, but it will keep those Photosynths from showing up on our site. You can still share direct links to unlisted ones with your friends, but keep in mind that when you share those direct links you’re letting that unlisted Photosynth out into the wild of the internet. Read our privacy control details.

Why are my unlisted Photosynths showing in explore?

We recalculate the explore pages every 60 seconds. If you just unlisted a Photosynth it might display on the explore pages for up to 60 seconds.

What’s the difference between a synth and a panorama?

Panoramas are made stitching a set of photos taken from exactly the same spot and with exactly the same focal length. Synths are our invention, and use photos that were taken from different locations. Panoramas display seamlessly, synths display as a collection of individual photos.

What does “synthy” mean?

Synthy is how we describe really well matched synths. If you create a synth with 100 photos and 100 photos match together, that would be 100% synthy. The synthy % isn’t a perfect quality measurement on its own though. A 4 photo synth that is 100% synthy doesn’t make the best synth. In geek speak: it’s the probability that one can navigate between two photos selected at random, without replacement.

Where are my Photosynths?

If you’ve uploaded photos and can’t find them on the site, make sure you’re signed in. If not, sign in and then click “My Photosynths” in our header. You’ll see a handful of tabs for your data.

How do I delete a Photosynth?

On your profile page, when looking at the list of your uploaded Photosynths, you’ll notice each one has an ‘X’ in the upper right corner. Click that to delete it. You need to be signed in to delete a Photosynth.

What is a point cloud?

When the Photosynth application does its magic and matches all your images to each other, it finds common points between the images. It keeps track of those points and gives them a color relevant to the color in the photos that it matched. The result of all these points is the Point Cloud… a 3D reconstruction of the object or scene using common points found in the photos. Only synths have point clouds.

What are those white frames that show up when I’m viewing a synth?

Those are the representation of photos connected to the one you’re looking at. We call them ‘quads’. Clicking from quad to quad lets you navigate the synth.

How many photos can I use in a single synth?

The ideal size for a synth is 20-300 photos. While Photosynth can often match many more photos, a huge number of photos makes it harder to view the synth. If you synth with 600 or more images your computer may crunch for hours and hours, attempting to match every image against every other. The result will often be slow to load and not easy for your viewer to move around in. Bigger is not always better!

Can I use Photosynths commercially?

We do have some options for commercial usage. Please refer to our commercial license page for more information.

Help! How do I get ____ to work?

Sometimes things just don’t work right. We want to help you get the support you need so we’ve created a few channels for you to get the help you need. Check our Discussion Forum for your common issues and bugs. We also have a more technical support site. If all else fails, please contact us and we’ll try and help the best we can.

What are the system requirements for the synther?

Internet Connection: Photosynth requires an internet connection to create and upload your synth. A high-speed connection is recommended.

Operating System: Only Windows XP (SP2 or SP3), Windows Vista, and Windows 7 are supported at this time. Running Windows on a Mac? Photosynth runs under Boot Camp and some VM configurations.

Processor: 2 GHz+ recommended. Quad-Core is ideal.

Memory: 256MB minimum; 1GB+ is recommended.

How can I share to Bing Maps?

Photosynth now supports the publishing of panoramas and synths to Bing Maps so the whole world can enjoy them. Public (i.e. “listed”) synths and panoramas will appear on the Photosynth “map app” and can be visually browsed by the world. People who are searching for a business on Bing Maps can also encounter your panorama if you published it with a business association. Here’s a sample. As we continue to grow, we may find even more opportunities in Bing that can also be enhanced with panoramas and synths.

What is the panorama approval process?

We want to get great panoramas of business interiors onto Bing Maps. If you associate your panorama with a business, we’ll put it through a quick approval process and will usually publish it into the Bing Maps business database within a couple of business days. From there it will be visible to everyone who searches for that business on Bing Maps. At present we only show a single panorama per business, so yours may not be approved if it isn’t as complete or clear as one that is already in place.

Also, please be accurate with business associations you provide and please do not submit panoramas with people you do not know or of places you do not have permission to capture (see our Terms of Use).