Dan Warne27 November 2008, 10:58 AM
Ever wished you looked a bit more like Brad Pitt or Scarlet Johansson? New software is the answer. PLUS: what Kevin Rudd & Julia Gillard look like run through the machine
Ever wished you looked a bit more like Brad Pitt or Scarlet Johannson? New software might be the answer.
Supermodels have been having moles airbrushed, cheekbones accentuated and lips digitally plumped for ages — but us mere plebs can't usually afford the skills of Photoshop experts to enhance family snaps.
Now, software from a university in Israel can automatically analyse facial beauty and make adjustments in just a few seconds to make you more beautiful.
The software, which runs on an ordinary PC, has been the personal project of Associate Professor Dani Lischinski of Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 2005.
The software works on a mathematical model of what people find beautiful in faces. Lischinski got hundreds of people to assign a rating to the beauty of certain people, then analysed what factors of their faces were attractive, such as the shape of their eyes, the distance apart, the curve of their lips, and so on. The software adjusts existing photos to more closely match those parameters.
The software is particularly effective because it doesn't radically change facial features — for example, it won't smooth anything over completely. It just adjust the dimensions of facial features.
There is a catch, though: the software only works on high-resolution headshots that are taken straight-on. And it doesn't always work perfectly; it takes the Mona Lisa and distorts her mysterious smirk into something more akin to a witch's face.
Lischinski says that although the software is still in a 'research project' stage that isn't ready for public consumption yet, he is exploring possibilities for commercialisation and public release.
Here's what it did to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Deputy PM Julia Gillard.
Professor Lischinski's research paper on the software is here (warning, large 13MB PDF). And here's a video on how it works: