Today Microsoft Research has released a super-neat application that allows you to take a group of photos and easily create a collage within minutes - called
AutoCollage 2008.
AutoCollage 2008 is the result of research out of
Microsoft Research Cambridge as well as research from other Microsoft Research Labs. The AutoCollage 2008 release marks the
first incubation released directly to consumers from Cambridge's Microsoft Research Lab.
In AutoCollage 2008, I was able to pick a folder of photos that I took at this year's Microsoft Pro Photo Summit. Using the AutoCollage controls on the top right-hand side (under "Actions") I was able to choose the amount of images to include in the collage.
All I needed to do was hit "create" and within seconds I had a collage created! Larger collages could take a few minutes to create. Here is my collage of photos from the Microsoft Pro Photo Summit:
After creating the collage, I can choose to either email the collage or set as a desktop wallpaper directly in AutoCollage 2008.
I foresee lots of collages in my future!
AutoCollage 2008 is available here as a 30-day trial or available on the Windows Marketplace for $19.95 for US folks or here at the Microsoft Store for UK folks for £19.90. By charging for this application - this allows the Cambridge incubation team to dedicate significant amount of work to making it rock for consumers. And AutoCollage 2008 certainly rocks.