Microsoft Turns 2-D Pictures into 3-D

Microsoft has released a technology preview of a application it calls "Photosynth," which has the capability to turn two-dimensional images into three-dimensional landscapes. The program does this by analyzing several different images of the same object, and then reconstructing it in 3-D. The user would be able to virtually "walk" or "fly" through this space, Microsoft says.

Photosynth is slated to be demonstrated at the Siggraph 2006 computer graphics conference in Boston on Wednesday. Photosynth was born out of Microsoft's Live Labs, a group of scientists and engineers that are studying new ways to use the Internet. The group was founded in February 2006 by Dr. Gary Flake, who joined MSN as a distinguished engineer in April of last year.