The guys at Image Metrics have released some footage of their latest “facial animation” abilities, which are really starting to look, well, real. To date, faces have always seemed some way off the rest of the pack in the CGI world.
So, another step closer to replacing actors in movies? Probably, but also a step closer to building more vivid, friendly and familiar interfaces with our various machines.
Flat screen not good enough for you? Microsoft developsa sphere-shaped one, with uber-multitouch integrated. Some applications (live omnidirectional camera, so you can spin it 360 degrees) seem to make some sense, others (pong) less so… But I’m all for innovation in HCI. As is Pat Gelsinger (of Intel, creator of the 486 processor no less), when he says in conversation with David Fearon, PC Plus Magazine:
“[there will be] a resurgence of interest and invention around the user-interface experience… as we enable the UI to become interactive, immersive and intuitive. We expect that to begin to occur as we move to terrascale computing.”
Though the whole reinvention of the obvious did make me think of the ad that’s showing on TV right now from a car company, asking how things would be if we could design them from scratch again. They then showed a world with whackily designed lamp posts, water hydrants etc., and eventually their new car. Thing is, if we designed things from scratch again – guess what, they’d look exactly like they do right now… In any case, demo of sphere-touchscreen below:
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