FAQ

Is Photosynth free?
Most Photosynth use is free, provided that you follow our Terms of Use, and create "public" synths. You can make public synths, 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 synths are commercial in nature.

Are the images I use in my synth made public?
The default setting for newly created synths is to be made public. There is a setting in the synther software as well as on the Photosynth site to make synths unlisted though. This won’t make them totally private, but it will keep those synths from showing up in any of the explore or search sections on our site. You can still share direct links to unlisted synths with your friends, but keep in mind that when you share those direct links you’re letting that unlisted synth out into the wild of the internet. Read our privacy control details.

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. We’re working on improving this “synthy” metric to better highlight great synths.

What is a point cloud?
When Photosynth 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 flat photos.

What is a quad?
When you’re viewing a synth you’ll notice other photos connected to the photo you’re centered on. These half-visible images show you photos taken from similar positions to the one you’re on and give you a guide to where you can explore to in the synth. Moving your mouse over the synth will highlight all these quads with a white border.

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 creates a harder experience to navigate. If you synth with 600 or more images your computer will 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! We are working on adding features to help link synths together to create large, easily navigable experiences… so shoot for quality rather than quantity.

Can I use synths 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 beeps go boop and 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.

Why Are my unlisted synths showing in explore?
We recalculate the explore pages every 60 seconds. If you just unlisted a synth it might display on the explore pages for up to 60 seconds.