Two sample photo collages created with Microsoft AutoCollage 2008
Though you can make collages with Picasa, the results are no match for what you’ll get from AutoCollage 2008, a new collage making software from Microsoft that also includes face detection.
Using AutoCollage 2008 is so easy - just pick an image folder that has 7 or more images and the program will do the rest. See this 30 second video screencast to know how all this works:
The most impressive part of AutoCollage is the built-in face detection that will prevent faces in the photographs from being obscured in the final collage. During my test with some 9 pictures, AutoCollage could successfully detect the face in every picture.
Microsoft AutoCollage is available for Vista & XP but there’s a downside - the software isn’t free ($20) and the 30-day trial will add a very prominent watermark at the bottom of your image collages.
Related: Make a Collage of Facebook Friends
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/software/make-photo-collages-with-microsoft-autocollage/4398/
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
I use collage a lot on my blog. I rely mostly on Picasa.
Today I tried the all new Picasa (3). Along with many other extended feature (including some for video)…the collage making capability of Picasa has been given a big boost…lot more effects.
And best of all it is free.
Written by Vinayak on 09.04.08
Amit take look at new Picasa 3 released on 2nd sep, It’s has really nice Photo Collages & also face detection options available.You can manually create Collages picture. I just love new picasa.
Written by Nilesh on 09.04.08
Thanks for the information Amit but it could have been better if this software was free. :(
Written by JokeCricket on 09.04.08
Man, that’s cool. I wonder why it costs so much though? I’d think it’d be in the new version of Photo Gallery instead. Oh well.
Written by Quikboy on 09.05.08
I think this is where Microsoft loses some of its customers to Google ;).
My 2 cents.
Written by Praveen Ratna Deepak on 09.05.08
And this is “tech a la carte”? For $20 I can get a really big collage of pepperoni, mushrooms and cheese. I’ll take the pizza over this any day.
Written by Pablo DiCiacco on 09.05.08
I would also prefer Picasa 3 for the same task.It simply rocks!!
Written by tweakwindows on 09.06.08
how does microsoft expect to stand in front of free apps like Picasa with this paid software…
Written by Deepak Kumar Gupta on 09.07.08
Had a go with AutoCollage 2008. By the way, you need NET Framework 3. Nice results but only works with photos larger than 300,000 pixels, and which have both dimensions larger than 480 pixels. Pity because I wanted to make a collage from screenshots rather than photos.
Written by techandlife on 09.10.08