“As the market for virtual reality technology continues to grow, Apple has made an interesting acquisition that could further its role in the space,” Ingrid Lunden reports for TechCrunch. “TechCrunch has confirmed that Apple has snapped up Faceshift, a startup based in Zurich that has developed technology to create animated avatars and other figures that capture a person’s facial expressions in real time.”
“From what we understand, several Faceshift employees are now working for Apple now out of Europe,” Lunden reports. “It’s not clear how Apple intends to use Faceshift’s technology, but there are a number of areas where Faceshift has been demonstrated and is already being used.”
“In gaming experiences, people can adopt avatars whose faces will alter based on the players’ actual expressions for a more immediate and realistic experience. In film production, the technology can be used to improve the process of animating characters to more closely mimic the actors’ facial movements,” Lunden reports. “The technology is also making an appearance at the highest level of wow: it’s used in the latest Star Wars film to make non-human characters more human-like in their expressions.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Back in early September, Mike Beasley reported rumors of this acquisition for 9to5Mac.
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Apple has purchased facial motion-capture company FaceShift – September 4, 2015
Apple and gaming are like oil and water. I don’t see anything good coming out of this acquisition.
The oracle has spoken. Of course the oracle was high on volcanic fumes most of the time, I presume that you have simplified the procedure. So now back to the real World. This sort of technology has opportunities well beyond pure gaming not that that is an area to be sniffed at more Apples eventual ability to perform in it as it once did back in the 80s.
Work on your English conventions before engaging in more trolling. You’re welcome.
Surely this technology is as much about recognising facial movements as it is about then translating/mirroring them onto graphic models? If they can be used to help recognise what we are saying/doing and how we’re saying/doing it could it not be used to improve speech recognition and/or just to enable control through facial gestures?
Apple have good reasons why to acquire this technology and expertise. From past examples, the tech could form part of anew device or feature but it also take a few years to come to fruition.