Search for pictures by sketching them!

Posted on August 2, 2008 at 5:19 am

Have you ever wanted a picture but didn’t really know what to type into the trusty old Google Image Search bar? Or maybe you wanted a red-colored star and Google kept throwing up yellow ones? Well, tear your hair no further, for Retrievr is here!

Retrievr is an online app that allows you to search the huge Flickr repository of pictures by actually sketching out what you’re looking for. Despite being very simple to use, its really accurate and useful.

Head over to the Retrievr home-page and we can begin!

As you can see, there isn’t much of an interface to get used to, but anything more than what’s already there would just have been bloat, simply because you don’t need much more to do what you need.

That box on the right is your sketch pad, and the color palate is right below it. Just sketch whatever it is you’re looking for in that box, and retrievr returns results in real-time.

A quick tip, make sure to use colors as accurately as possible. This will really improve the accuracy of the results. Try to avoid using just black, as that will return just black and white results.

Once you get a feel of the search methodology, you’ll really start finding the right images.

Now everyone isn’t a Picasso or Vinci, [like me], so for the rest of us image seekers, there is still hope. Retrievr actually allows you to upload images and search for similar images.

All you need to do is click on the “Image” link in the “Search by” area. Then, you will be presented with a screen where you can upload an image from your PC or link one that you saw while surfing around.

Admittedly, this is a lot more accurate. For instance,

Though retrievr is awesome, it is nowhere near perfect, but this is completely forgivable considering the complexity of the task it is performing. So set realistic expectations, and you won’t be disappointed.

Overall, Retrievr is a nifty little web app that just needs to be tried.

This is a guest post by Om. J. Bathija, a Tech enthusiast and Blogger.

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