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Microsoft Pix

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101–110 of 205 posts

Re: Microsoft Pix

#101
post #67

I'd like one point clarified: is this app entirely local or does it make use of any kind of cloud backend? I've already seen apps that upload photos away for processing without making it obvious (for example http://prisma-ai.com , if I'm not mistaken). I really shouldn't have to ask if only iOS had a permission for network access.

You're correct that Prisma uploads images and processes them "in the cloud" - but only for about half the filters. It's kind of weird and it isn't immediately obvious what the difference is between "cloud" filters and "local" filters.

Re: Microsoft Pix

#103
post #7
post #4

> Better mobile photos are just a tap away. Enter your mobile phone number and we'll text you a link to download Microsoft Pix. Stop teaching people to click on links from SMS texts damn it!

Nice way to gather mobile numbers, not even needed to build a social network first.

We wanted to provide an easy option for users not currently on an iOS device, but only use the number for a 1-time SMS with a link to the Pix listing in the App Store. We do not collect or store the phone numbers, out of respect for user privacy.

Re: Microsoft Pix

#104
post #9

There's an interesting example they use to show the ostensible improvement of Pix over the Apple's Live Photo: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/... The Pix-enhanced version: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/... Sure, the Live Photo version has distracting movement, but it also has much more natural motion in terms of hair flow. And I feel that the camera instabili…

It probably looks creepy because they don't move a single muscle in their faces.

Re: Microsoft Pix

#105

I have been using Pix for a few weeks now and am very happy with the quality. Too bad you can't use it as the default camera app on iOS. Also it takes significantly longer to start up. But if you are taking multiple shots of, say, your kids, the quality is better.

Happy to hear you are enjoying it! We are working on a widget that will allow you to quick launch Pix from the Lock or Today screens, which we hope will help lessen the frustration of not being able to set it as default.

Re: Microsoft Pix

#106
post #86
post #76

We're from the Microsoft Pix team, and we are interested in your feedback. Happy to answer questions.

Can you make better windows phones please. Please create better apps for your platform before running towards iOS.

Or, create apps for the platform used by 7x as many people before bothering creating them for the worst of them all.

Re: Microsoft Pix

#107
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I first saw this, I wondered if it came out of the Photosynth project.

It's probably related to their hyperlapse tech, which shared a few people - at least Johannes Kopf and Richard Szeliski. https://blogs.microsoft.com/next/2014/08/11/hyperlapse-siggr...

Hyperlapse is included in this app!

Re: Microsoft Pix

#108
post #38

Sorry for my naivety and maybe a little off topic - but where are the raw image files used in the comparison images ? I'm sure someone is going to cry foul if the images have been passed through Photoshop.

None of the comparison images have been altered via Photoshop. All comparisons were shot simultaneously on a side-by-side rig, using a trigger that prompted the shutter press for both apps (Apple Camera and Microsoft Pix) at the same time, so conditions would be as equivalent as possible. See a photo of the rig in action here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/product/microsoftpi.... We did crop the edges of some photos to fit into the available space, but otherwise the images are the unaltered files that were produced by each app.

Re: Microsoft Pix

#109
post #76

We're from the Microsoft Pix team, and we are interested in your feedback. Happy to answer questions.

Two confirmation dialogs (one from the app and one from iOS) for deleting an image seems kind of overkill. Can you make it just one?

Re: Microsoft Pix

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Pix version looks like one of those old computer games when they wanted to animate some wind, but cut only afford to animate a handful of sprites on the screen. So everything is stiff as a board except for some flipping scarves/hair/etc...

I think you're referring to color cycling, and it's a much interesting technology than just a handful of sprites: http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article-Old_School_Color_C...

I think that effect (of having a large static background with a few small sprite overlays providing motion) was largely orthogonal to color cycling.
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