Microsoft finally fully retired Photosynth, a panorama tool that allowed you to stitch photos together, with the shutdown of its website in early 2017. However, Photosynth is now making a return of sorts, this time as a new feature in the Microsoft Pix (opens in new tab) app for iOS.
If you were familiar with Photosynth's original incarnation, then the feature's implementation in Pix should look familiar. According to Microsoft (opens in new tab), the feature lets you freely pan while taking a photo. This lets you expand your photo to include more of the scene around you, which can come in handy if you want to capture the full majesty of your surroundings. "Photosynth in Pix shares similarities with the original, leveraging some of the underlying technology, with more features inspired by the original to come," Microsoft says.
In addition to Photosynth's panorama capabilities, Pix has also added a feature called "Comix," which, as the name suggests, lets you create short comic strips from your photos. Pix will do the hard work of picking the best frames for Comix panels before allowing you to add and edit speech bubbles.
Microsoft Pix originally launched on iPhone in mid-2016 as a way to bring some artificial intelligence juice to the iPhone's camera. The app leverages AI to automatically adjust elements like exposure, focus, and color. It can also create Live Photo-like images by stitching bursts together. Support for a number of other features, like hyperlapse and best image selection, are also included, and Microsoft has continued to beef up the feature set since launch.
If you're using an iPhone, you can grab these new features in Microsoft Pix version 1.3.2 on the App Store now.
See at the App Store (opens in new tab)
