Friday, November 27, 2015
Apple Has Acquired Faceshift, Maker Of Motion Capture Tech Used In Star Wars
TechCrunch: As the market for virtual reality technology continues to grow, Apple has made an interesting acquisition that could further its role in the space. 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.
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While this technology is exciting and interesting – I feel like I’ve seen it before. Perhaps on some webcam software from a few years ago. In any case, I can see why Apple would be interested in this technology. Combined with powerful video editing software, it could be a great tool for integrating live capture with the editing software among other things. I’m not sure what direction Apple will take things with their newly acquired company, but I can see them using it more for the home end user FaceTime applications than professional users. I could also see this technology going into other applications like live closed captioning or translation. Apple does have a knack for interesting technology and especially that involving media. I wouldn’t be surprised if this could lead to people creating their own avatars in Photoshop (or some other graphics program) and using this software to animate them.
I find the fact that apple acquired face tracking technology interesting but not surprising. While they were the first to create video calling, they have dominated the market with their built in iPhone app facetime. I foresee this technology easily being another little add on to their preexisting app to make chatting with friends a different kind of experience by being able to animate over their face.
What I personally hope to foresee with this technology that it is brought into the world of gaming. This easily could help enhance a virtual reality game that exists over the internet and in the style of a sandbox game. This would allow online users to be able to create an animated character but actually interact with other plays real time and offer real facial expressions to go along with their audio. This could bring the world of online role playing games to a whole new level.
Does Apple own everything? It is hardly surprising that Apple has boght yet another tech company. It is surprising however, how this product originated. Very rarely do you see a mainstream company interested in something developed for the entertainment industry. Theater, after all, is fantastic at finding new uses for everything. It's rare that something we create us repurposed for the real world.
As a former gamer (I don't have time now), I am excited to hear how apple further developed this technology. Now a days, more and more of our social interactions take place over the internet. With better face mapping, group chats will surpass simply doodling on each others faces (a feature in Google Hangouts). We could hang out in virtual reality with life-like avatars. It would be just like a sci-fi movie (maybe even like one of the ones this tech was used to create) or that thing that wii tryes to do that no one cared about. The possibilities are exciting and this has the potential to vastly change how we interact with each other online. I hope Apple doesn't kill it.
When Apple buys a company, they regularly have a motive for it. Obviously. The usually want to corner the market on something, or acquire an interesting section of a piece of software owned by a company.
When Apple bought Beats, they did both of those things. They absorbed some of the Beats audio IP (not that they make very good stuff anyway), but they also cornered the market on mid-high end consumer headphones. Why? Because they want to get rid of the 3.5mm jack in your iPhone. If they own Beats, they can do that, replace it with their propriatary connector, and still offer you decent options for your iphone listening.
As far as acquiring Faceshift, I doubt Apple is trying to diversify, they are more likely just trying to steal a key component of it to incorporate into a piece of software that they already own. They are probably after the APIs built into the Faceshift platform to incorporate into Photobooth, iMovie, or perhaps some of their more high end software. Or perhaps they're going to make it a hook for iOS developers to easily tie into.
No matter what it is, it will be revolutionary. Almost as revolutionary as when they take out my headphones jack...
Huh, maybe this acquisition will allow Apple to make Siri genuinely useful, maybe it scans your face and lets different facial gestures be hotkeys on your phone. Like when I squint or grimace, that will tell my iPhone to call home. That would be pretty hilarious. But perhaps not... I feel like large software companies gobble up interesting startups a dime-a-dozen, and something does not necessarily always come out up it. At least not something "revolutionary". I do actually wonder what existing software Apple produces that they could bake Faceshift into. Perhaps Photoboooth in a later update will now let you create avatars based on your facial expression... Although to be honest, I really have no idea. Sometimes I wonder if Tim Cook doesn't just sit in his office and throw darts at a board to determine what startup he wants to gobble up on that day. I certainly wouldn't hold my breath for something cool to come of this Faceshift acquisition.
Let me preface this comment by saying I'm not a huge fan of Apple's business practices.While I am willing to fawn over their product design and marketing, and do concede that they make a couple quality items, the company's history with acquisition, whether it be of intellectual property or other companies, makes me uneasy. Now that I've said that, you'll perhaps understand a bit better why I'm not as excited as others to hear of this buy-out. This is not to say that I'm wholeheartedly displeased with turns of events, and will refuse to acknowledge any technological wizardry that comes out of this merger. (And there will be much. Apple R and D plus virtual reality/motion capture? No way someone is letting that ocean of brainpower and other resources go to waste.) Instead, I will proceed with a healthy dose of skepticism, and observe the hype from afar, wary of being taken in.
Faceshift is an incredibly smart acquisition for Apple. As we know Apple is one of the leading tech companies out there, and although they are known primarily for their hardware much of the software they produce is incredibly innovative. While it may sound a little sketchy that Apple is buying up small start-up tech companies without any precursor, I have no doubts that this is strategy for Apple to gain a larger sphere of influence by vertically integrating themselves in other fields. In terms of video editing software Apple already has Final Cut Pro a widely used video editing software, and they just bought Polor Rose which built a facial recognition program, augmented reality company Metaio, and PrimeSense a 3D body capturing company. Adding Faceshift to the list, which was just used in filming the new Star Wars movie, and it sounds like Apple either plans on making their technology essential to the growing push towards face and motion capture, along with augmented reality in both the film and gaming industries.
Ahhh faceshift is so cool! Face tracking technologies have existed for a while and that is definitely nothing new, but this, as the video said, is much more advanced, but also much more accurate. This could be amazing and save so much time for animators everywhere. 3D animation can actually be done in a much more efficient manor than ever before. I was in a scientific visualization class and we were working a lot with basic animation and our teacher showed us an animation that one of his students was working on. He worked on this piece for the entire year and it ended up being a two-minute 3D animated film about a sniper. There was no lip syncing and the characters never talked. I feel like faceshift could make these projects a great deal easier for animation and film students everywhere. It could cut animation time by a huge amount, especially if this could be transferred to a full body model with the same speed and quality. independent content creators could be able to actually make really amazing pieces in shorter time. I love this technology and i hope i get the opportunity to play around with it one day.
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