ScottF's dashboard

A comment on the question "required number of texture blend stages (4) not supported" in Microsoft Live Labs:

Thanks Dan.. (The next update to the Photosynth viewer will add a check to avoid the crashing situation.) – ScottF, on September 19, 2008 20:58

ScottF replied on September 18, 2008 22:55 to the problem "PhotoSynth's 'search' feature is broken" in Microsoft Live Labs:

The team is aware of this and we are aware of what needs to change. Getting search working very high on our list!

ScottF started a conversation in Microsoft Live Labs on September 17, 2008 23:37:

Photosynth Maintenance Window: Thursday Sept 18, 11pm PST

Hi Everyone,

Our monthly maintenance window is scheduled for tomorrow evening. We'll be offline sweeping and dusting (and patching) at 11pm PST for about 30 minutes. Again, you'll see the static Web site during this time, and you won't be able to start new synths. If you're already synthing, the process will continue after maintenance is done.

-Scott

A comment on the discussion "Details of Photosynth Update, September 8" in Microsoft Live Labs:

We're glad to hear it! – ScottF, on September 17, 2008 23:31

ScottF replied on September 11, 2008 22:43 to the problem "Which are the Photosynth system requirements?" in Microsoft Live Labs:

The title of this thread is a little confusing. I've marked the Photosynth system requirements as the "company answer" at the top of this thread, so it is easy to find.

If you've found this thread because you're experiencing the Viewer startup error ("We wish Photosynth would run for you, but obviously it's not working"), please head on over to this thread: it's not working - is it my graphics card?.

(By the way, thanks to everyone for providing debugging information so far. We want Photosynth to run for you!)

ScottF set one of ScottF's replies as an official response to "Which are the Photosynth system requirements?" in Microsoft Live Labs

ScottF replied on September 11, 2008 21:55 to the problem "Phothsynth service is not available, try again later" in Microsoft Live Labs:

You'll see this message if there's an interruption of your network connectivity just as Photosynth launches. If you see this consistently, and you can browse other Web sites, please let us know.

A comment on the discussion "Details of Photosynth Update, September 8" in Microsoft Live Labs:

Hi bam, I want to understand what you're seeing, could you post your failed synth's logfile in this thread? – ScottF, on September 11, 2008 20:36

A comment on the question "What does Error 80004005 mean ?" in Microsoft Live Labs:

Thanks for the info - we have a developer looking at this problem. – ScottF, on September 10, 2008 22:46

A comment on the question "What does Error 80004005 mean ?" in Microsoft Live Labs:

We don't have immediate plans to expose fine tuning controls for Photosynth, but my suggestion is to simply take lots of pictures, and move around a lot as you take the photos, in order to provide coverage from lots of different angles. – ScottF, on September 10, 2008 22:45

ScottF replied on September 10, 2008 20:15 to the discussion "The photos wont load" in Microsoft Live Labs:

I'm glad you have it working, but if there are Firefox issues, we care about those! Any other folks having this problem?

ScottF replied on September 09, 2008 21:28 to the discussion "The photos wont load" in Microsoft Live Labs:

The update we deployed today might fix your problem. Please check this thread for more information.

ScottF replied on September 09, 2008 21:23 to the question "Photosynth installed-but pix remain blank" in Microsoft Live Labs:

Hi - When you browse to the View page, is the Photosynth Viewer a black screen, do you see any error messages or a point cloud?

ScottF replied on September 09, 2008 07:49 to the problem "Unable to upload or see the Synth." in Microsoft Live Labs:

(Replying to a few different threads that refer to the same issue.)

We've updated Photosynth with a fix that should significantly reduce a) the number of failed uploads, and b) the number of uninteresting synths featured on the explore page. You can check out what we did, or just go ahead and upgrade Photosynth now.

ScottF replied on September 09, 2008 07:48 to the question "What does Synther error A000000B mean?" in Microsoft Live Labs:

This is a frustrating problem - but we're pretty sure we've found the culprit. Photosynth has been updated with a fix that should significantly reduce this problem. You can check out what we did, or just go ahead and upgrade Photosynth now.

ScottF replied on September 09, 2008 07:46 to the question "Synth Failed error A000000B" in Microsoft Live Labs:

Bert, Nathan and the rest of the team have updated Photosynth with a fix that should significantly reduce this problem. You can check out what we did, or just go ahead and upgrade Photosynth now.

ScottF replied on September 09, 2008 07:46 to the question "Error A000000B after 54 photos uploaded.. what is this error ?" in Microsoft Live Labs:

(Replying to a few different threads that refer to the same issue.)

We've updated Photosynth with a fix that should significantly reduce this problem. You can check out what we did, or just go ahead and upgrade Photosynth now.

ScottF replied on September 09, 2008 07:44 to the problem "Failed (Error A000000B)" in Microsoft Live Labs:

We've updated Photosynth with a fix that should significantly reduce this problem. You can check out what we did, or just go ahead and upgrade Photosynth now.

ScottF started a conversation in Microsoft Live Labs on September 09, 2008 07:35:

Details of Photosynth Update, September 8

This evening the Photosynth team released our second update. Here's what was included:

• Improved upload success rate. This update should significantly reduce the number of synths failing with error code "0xA000000B". The problem happens when a file is currupted on it's way to storage. We've added additional retry logic, and beefed up validation on both the client and server.


• Smoother installation on Internet Explorer. Our installer now marks the ActiveX control as "pre-approved" so the IE Information Bar doesn't get in the way when viewing your first synth.


• Resolved #1 cause of viewer crashes. We take these kinds of bugs very seriously. Our friends in Seadragon helped resolve this problem. (Thanks Paul & Dan..)


• Fixed image loading bug. Every so often the viewer would shrug it's shoulders and stop loading images, even though the points were there. This is now fixed.


• Better "Recent" synths. The recent synths view of the explore page now only features synths with at least 10 photos.

All but the last fix are updates to the installer, and all new installs of Photosynth will include them. Existing users won't be prompted to upgrade, but you can install the upgrade here if you're affected.

A big thanks to everyone who reported upload problems and provided debug information. The team is already hard at work on the next update!

-Scott Fynn
Photosynth Program Manager

ScottF replied on September 09, 2008 00:07 to the question "What does Error 80004005 mean ?" in Microsoft Live Labs:

Thanks for all of the the debugging information - the team is investigating this problem. The logfiles seem to point to image conversion and thumbnail creation. During this time we do read EXIF data. Zeemer, your workaround indicates we should look closely at EXIF code - could you post some of the images that fail consistently?

Photosynth uses the EXIF data in your pictures to assist in reconstruction, so removing it will certainly reduce the quality of your synths, but it may provide a workaround to get you synthing again until we fix this bug.

If you're having trouble finding your logs, check out this thread for more information.