This Video Will Make You Question Everything You See Afterwards

 Computer Graphics  

A newly developed technology that uses an inexpensive facial mapping method can recreate and replace faces of celebrities, but the technology may also have applications in creating digital avatars and mindclones.

Soon, nearly everyone with a computer will be able to create inexpensive, controllable computer models of famous people’s faces in 3D just using online photos of celebrities, or anyone.

"This capability opens up the ability to create puppets for any photo collection of a person, without requiring them to be scanned," write the researchers from the University of Washington.

The researchers also were able to recreate idiosyncrasies, like facial ticks, of the celebrities they modeled, including Kevin Spacey and Daniel Craig. This work could let us interact with digital avatars that look and act like people we know.

Related articles Researchers Rewire Paralyzed Monkey To Control Arm Directly From The Brain Infographic - Are We Living In A Computer Simulation? Is Brown Fat The Key To A Healthier You?

Typically, creating CGI models of a human face is expensive and requires laser scanning and motion capture technology. The researchers postulated that for celebrities, there are more than enough paparazzi photographs online to capture digitally what they look like from just about every possible angle.

"The idea was to create realistic virtual models of people just from photos rather than complex lab set-ups," says researcher Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman. Led by Supasorn Suwajanakorn, the team collected around 200 photos each of various famous people from Google Images, taken in different poses and at varying angles.

"Don't underestimate how much people want to be someone else."

The photos were analysed using face-tracking software, and a realistic 3D model for their face and head created. Further analysis added wrinkles and textures that appear and disappear as expressions change.

"The result is a full 3D model you can turn right around," says Suwajanakorn.

As well as being able to manipulate the digital puppets any way they wanted, the team found they could realistically switch an actor's face with that of another – allowing them to be replaced throughout an entire TV show or movie, for example.

A real potential commercial application could be to provide famous animated faces for visual versions of Siri-like assistants, says Suwajanakorn. Another might be to automatically create 3D faces for telepresence robots, says Nicole Carey at humanoid robot maker Engineered Arts in Penryn, UK. "Don't underestimate how much people want to be someone else," she says.

The face of someone who has died could be recreated and driven with one of the emerging breed of chatbots trained – using the deceased's tweets and emails – to converse like them.

The system may also be useful for creating mindclones. "Our model could bring back your memories of the people you care about," says Suwajanakorn.




SOURCE  New Scientist

By 33rd Square

Embed