FaceMapping
Latest
Warby Parker's iPhone app lets you try on glasses in AR
Warby Parker has always let you try on glasses before you buy them, either in-store or shipped to your home. Now the eyeglasses brand has a new way to show you how you'll look in your new spectacles: augmented reality. The latest version of the Warby Parker app for iOS includes a new Virtual Try-On feature that shows you exactly how you'll look in any pair of glasses.
Intel AI helped create a music video
AI is increasingly finding its way into music videos, and not necessarily in obvious ways. Intel has revealed that the promo clip for Chinese pop star Chris Lee's "Rainy Day, But We Are Together" is the first music video to lean on its AI technology. Director Timothy Saccenti and Intel's producers created dramatic special effects on the songstress' face (such as trickles of water and twinkling stars) by training a machine learning system to instantly reconstruct a face in 3D and track its movements in real time, including facial expressions. Instead of asking Lee (aka Li Yuchun) to wear tracking markers or the camera crew to shoot a specific way, the creative team could focus on capturing scenes that lined up with their artistic goals.
Motion-tracking projector puts a laser show on moving faces
The combination of face-mapping and video projections makes for a trippy experience. The technology transforms the human face into a canvas for digital art. When a bright red lightning bolt appeared on Lady Gaga's face during her David Bowie tribute at the Grammys last year, the projection mapping technique went from niche studios to a mainstream audience. Now, the studio behind that performance has dropped a visual experiment called Inori to demonstrate the pace and precision of a new system.
Sony takes SOEmote live for EverQuest II, lets gamers show their true CG selves (video)
We had a fun time trying Sony's SOEmote expression capture tech at E3; now everyone can try it. As of today, most EverQuest II players with a webcam can map their facial behavior to their virtual personas while they play, whether it's to catch the nuances of conversation or drive home an exaggerated game face. Voice masking also lets RPG fans stay as much in (or out of) character as they'd like. About the only question left for those willing to brave the uncanny valley is when other games will get the SOEmote treatment. Catch our video look after the break if you need a refresher.
Vegas, face mapping, and you: a video
We recently brought you Major Nelson's Vegas face mapping results, but those were merely pictures. Today we bring you the holy grail of face mapping evidence: video. It seems that the overall goal of face mapping, however, is not to map normal faces. If our previous commenters are to be believed, Vegas players have been trying all kinds of head gear, from sun glasses to Spiderman masks. It's fitting, then, that this video features a woman using the face mapping feature to give Xbox Live a permanent raspberry. Check out the video and tell us what creative things you've done with your Vegas avatar.
Unreal Engine 3 gets Digimasked
The creative genius' behind Gears of War have a little program they call Unreal Engine 3, have you heard? Well it looks like Digimask and their face mapping software is officially a part of the Unreal Engine. Digimask is the same company that incorporated face mapping technology using the Xbox Live Vision camera into World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions and Rainbow Six Vegas. You just can't help but to speculate whether or not our beloved Gears of War (which utilizes the Unreal Engine) will incorporate the new face mapping technology through a future auto update. Though the more I think about it, I highly doubt we'll see this happen because that would totally mess up the feng shui Cliffy B has painstakingly worked to achieve in Gears. We can always hope that we'll see some Digimask face mapping in the uber-hyped, Xbox 360 exclusive, Unreal Engine based game: Jazz the Jackrabbit 4.
