Cologne Cathedral - Kölner Dom, Germany

Description

To achieve 100% synthy taking over 300 photos of this cathedral is incredible! The point cloud also turned out really interesting considering that no overview shot could be taken from a high point nearby.

Particularly pleasing was the way Photosynth constructed the rounded end of the cathedral viewed from the Philharmonic end.

Best viewed on Full Screen mode - press "F" on your keyboard

sadly although the synth is 100% the point cloud is nothing like the cathedral really is...a mystery is the only way to describe it...anyway...

enjoy!

Stats

Synthy	100%
Views	6033
Favorites	18
Photos	315
Date Created	2/7/2009

Location

50.9412651876897 6.95805788040162

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Comments

(28)

Pierrot21 Over 1 year ago

You didn't need so many pictures; with a wide angle, it'would be more comfortable to see, and without zoom-effects
You could do the same with 50 pictures

Jonathan Over 1 year ago

yeah, but without that many photos you wouldn't get such a great point cloud!

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

the point cloud was one of the reasons for so many pictures - I would have liked a few more zooms than I did, but I did not have a tripod and last week was very windy in Cologne!!

Pierrot21 Over 1 year ago

Ok, if the goal was the point-cloud; it's true I didn't even think about that; in architecture I just try to make a virtual visit, and try to succeed a point-cloud with objects on a turntable or objects I can walk around (statues aso).
But I shall try it
Which size for so many pictures? or what for a computer? I allready had memory-problems!

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

Yes the point cloud was an important goal for me - even though it did not work as well as I hoped. I do like your approach - it is visually very pleasing and I tried to use that approach on the Pulteney bridge in Bath. I shoot with a Canon Digital Ixus 960IS (12MP) mostly on the wide screen view with maximum pixel size (I travel a lot so need a small camera!). I have a Samsung Q210 notebook with 3GB RAM, running with Vista - so quite new. My son (Cardinal) uses a Canon EOS 40D with 2 lenses 17-80mm and 80-300mm - he is able to do wider angles than me. Take a look at his Bath Abbey at Night - this was shot with the 40D. The Bath Abbey from the front was shot with my camera. His computer however has less RAM (1GB), so he usually uploads in stages of about 100 photos at a time.

Schn828 Over 1 year ago

Nice job!

K Over 1 year ago

agreed, point clouds are addicting! i'm so excited that they work in silverlight now.

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

thanks Schn828 - it worked out quite well

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

K - I looked at Silverlight on the link, and have to say the full 3d on IE works better as far as I can see? What are the benefits of Silverlight then?

Jonathan Over 1 year ago

You're right that the DirectX viewer is better (for now at least). The main benefit of Silverlight is that it allows Mac users and people with low end machines to see synths. For us, it's a better development environment and will let us do more interesting visual things on top of the viewer.

canesh Over 1 year ago

hi Fred! Fantastic this Synth!

Answerin your comment on my synth http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=0f79388b-8244-4a99-ba13-32f4e91b7ad5

I used two cameras: Canon 20D and Canon G9. With the 20D I used 2 lenses: Canon 10-22 and Canon 70-200 F4 L

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

Jonathan - okay so I should recommend the Silverlight viewer to friends with older machines? Do the low end machines and Mac users need to downlaod software?

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

thanks canesh - it has workded quite well - it is a pity I did not have more time the next day - the sun was shining and I think the synth would have been better in stronger light.

lostinthetriangle Over 1 year ago

Ah, the elusive cloud point! I too have been trying to do the same thing.
In your case though, well done! I would like to see this with double the pictures, I think it would make an even greater cloud point.

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

I would have liked to added more - I deleted quite a lot because I did not have a tripod and the light and wind played havoc with the zoomed images...

lostinthetriangle Over 1 year ago

I am now just starting to understand just how important the right light at the right time is to photosynthing!
But this is so much fun.

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

it is really important with detailed buildings like this one - the synth engine did get somewhat confused as to which 90 degree corner it was trying to synth on the north western corner of the cathedral. Problem here was that there was no position to take more angled shots of the corner due to the street below. If it was lighter I suspect that this would not have been a problem

douglas Over 1 year ago

Really nice job, the pointcloud is great. Especially fun to fly through using the w,a,s,d keys

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

thanks Douglas - I only learned about the w,a,s,d experience yesterday - agree it is fun to fly through!

EdLee Over 1 year ago

The point cloud can be even better -- See my synth with 1,225 photos at 100% of the SB Courthouse: http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=d75099c1-49e9-4765-83e7-a970d3745071
Also, it would be nice to rotate all the "sideways" photos "up".

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

Thanks EdLee - agree the point cloud could be better - with a better camera and more light on the day (photos were shot on 5 February - a dark day in Cologne...so no luxury of the great light you have in SB. Sorry about the sideways photos...

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

Edlee - this is my favourite building/architectural point cloud: http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=03650ff3-2ed0-426c-a5ba-8892235653ed - shows all the deatails with a balanced point density.

EdLee Over 1 year ago

Thanks, Fred. Funny you mention the light in SB -- actually the mostly sunny days here work AGAINST me because I want nice soft diffused sunlight for all the exterior shots, which means overcast/cloudy days, but not TOO cloudy. So I have to wait for the rare weather, which means the right time of year, and right time of day, etc. :) But you're right that dark days are a bummer. My camera is also a point-and-shoot 7.2MP Sony with a tiny lens. I see a building next to the Cathedral with lots of windows -- can you get inside that building and take some photos from there? It may help a lot with the point clouds.

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

I agree, too much light is also a problem...sorry no chance of getting into the buildings around the cathedral...I would have to go back to Cologne, and try to bribe my way into a few office buildings and hotels!

Pierrot21 Over 1 year ago

Hi happy cathedrals' synthers! So I synthed my simple cathedral, pretty little from Dijon (Burgundy) http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=7a5ef951-d15b-4d83-839c-5013b01e4726 ; I hope you like it. As you can see it was on a very sunny day, and I feared about shadows ot overlighted places, but Photosynth is quite good for stitching. I could take pictures on avery 4 sides by stepping into private gardens or yards; so one side was in the shadow and colours are not so warm, but it doesn't matter so much.
I agree there are no statues here, or sun would have been a problem; I agree with EdLee you better use a good stalbilizer (all cameras have one now) or a tripod and try to take your breath; and don't focus too much about the point cloud ;-)))

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

Great work Pierrot!

mtolver Over 1 year ago

Absolutely Amazing!

Fred_Oxford Over 1 year ago

thank you - I guess if I had the opportunity to do it again I would do a lot quite differently...

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