Ever since I first saw photographs come to life and move about within the pages of The Daily Prophet in the Harry Potter series I’ve been fascinated by the possibility of one day being able to do that in real life as well. Thankfully I may have finally gotten my wish thanks to a new technology on the horizon known as Photo Wake-Up, that brings static images to life, enabling photographed subjects to walk, run, sit and stand up, all in 3D!
Such a technology would work wonders when paired with an Augmented Reality headset. Just imagine, for instance, what this would mean for collecting baseball cards. One minute you’re staring at a posed picture of Mike Trout. The next you’re watching him swing the bat. Or imagine what it would mean for visiting an art museum if the Renaissance era portraits could suddenly come to life.
What’s amazing about this technology is that it doesn’t just cut out a subject from a frame in a haphazard way. Rather, in fills in the background where the person used to be, making it seem like they are really coming to life, not just popping off the page.
As Futurism describes, “For the effect to work properly, all Weng’s software needs is a still frame showing a silhouette. It cuts out the 2D shape, and warps it around a 3D skeleton that matches it. Researchers have tried to create a similar effect in the past, but the results have been a lot less impressive. Weng’s new approach adds an important new ability: it can identify different body parts like arms and legs, and warp each one individually in a way that matches the 2D cutout exactly.”
Hopefully, this technology continues to develop and it joins the Gif and other animated features as a standard part of our lives.
Is photo wake up the Greatest Idea Ever?
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