Disney researchers have created a new AI (artificial intelligence) tool that can change an actor's age (make them older or younger) in a matter of seconds.
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Disney Research Studios recently published a paper analyzing the AI tool FRAN, or face re-aging network. This neural network was created using datasets containing images of different people making similar facial expressions. In this way, they were able to bypass the need for thousands of images of real people at various ages.
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FRAN analyzes historical data to predict how a real person’s face will age and which areas would be affected. It then uses that information to overlay new details, like wrinkles, onto video. The end result is what Disney Research Studios calls “the first practical, fully automated, production-ready method for re-aging faces in video images.” Looking at the examples provided by Disney, it’s clear that this technology goes far beyond Snapchat.
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While FRAN has some limitations, this type of research is not unique to Disney. In fact, Disney’s own research notes that FRAN may not be suitable for significant changes, such as changing an actor’s age to and from very young ages. Additionally, graying of scalp hair is not captured when using FRAN to age an actor, as this data was not present in the dataset used to train the tool.
It's no surprise that Disney is working on automating visual effects, as they are one of the most important names in cinema that de-ages or recreates actors.
Despite its potential benefits to filmmaking, it's unclear whether Disney plans to make this technology available to the public. There's also still some room for improvement, so it could be a while before we see this level of sophisticated visual effects work practically automated within the industry.
Source of information: theverge.com
