Imagine a future where you didn’t have to apply makeup directly to your face. Rather, you would wear a tiny projector that would map the contours and movements of your face. This little projector would splash your face with whatever face you want to present to the world.

The OMOTE project is a collaboration between a group of engineers, artists, and other creative types that allows for real-time 3D mapping of a human face.

With that mapping data, a projector uses specific points to project images onto the face. The images follow the face perfectly as it moves, providing a real-time mask that can be nearly anything you want it to be.

OMOTE is a proof of concept at this point, but the possibilities are scintillating. Real-time 3D mapping and facial projection could make for some killer Halloween costumes and, if the projectors could be made small and nimble enough, even stage makeup.

Unfortunately, the team hasn’t provided many technical details about how the effect is created or even what type of hardware is used, so it isn’t clear just how much the technology could accomplish.

The post 3D Makeover: Moving Digital Makeup Projected in Real Time first appeared on Gajitz.

There are far too many things capable of distracting drivers on the road, and most of them are inside the car itself. Self-driving cars will solve that problem in the future, but for now car companies have to work with the standard human-operated vehicles. Volvo has developed a system that will identify when a driver is distracted, inattentive, or falling asleep.

A sensor on the dashboard will monitor the direction of a driver’s gaze, his head position, and how open his eyes are. If the driver starts to nod off or is so distracted that the car starts drifting into another lane, the car itself will take corrective action. It can wake a sleepy driver, alert a distracted driver that his car is too close to the one in front of it, or correct the course of a drifting car.

Because it can approximate a driver’s state, the car can anticipate when safety measures might need to be engaged. In case of an impending accident, the car’s safety systems can be initiated earlier for a distracted driver than they might be for a non-distracted driver. Volvo is quick to point out that information about the driver’s face and actions is not recorded or stored in any way; the in-dash sensors are simply there to provide a second-by-second safety backup to help cut down on distraction-related accidents.

The post Volvo’s In-Dash Facial Recognition Stops Distracted Driving first appeared on Gajitz.

Interaction between humans and their machines is understandably cold and one-sided – but what if your gadgets knew how you were feeling and responded appropriately? A music player designed by Joe Smith, Yeawon Choi, Yifei Chai, and Yuchang Chow called Rapport seeks to establish a more emotional connection between humans and machines.

Rapport is a music player with the ability to read your emotions and play music based on how you feel and react. It begins when you make “eye” contact with the player, which looks like a periscope with its bottom stuck in a wood block. The Rapport leans forward to analyze your facial expression, then chooses a song that it deems appropriate for your mood and the time of day.

The song begins to play at a low volume. If you display a positive reaction, such as a smile, the Rapport player increases the volume. If you express a negative reaction, the player switches to another song. And if you express surprise, the player recoils and returns to the setting it was on before it detected surprise.

The project is an attempt to personalize our technology, to give us a deeper connection with the items we use every day. Although the exterior design is simple, the inner workings are complex. The Rapport includes a webcam, a computer, motors and cables. The device uses complex software to recognize and respond to facial expressions. The team behind the intriguing project say the technology could be used in an educational setting to recognize anxiety and help deliver encouragement to students.

The post Feeling the Music: Gadget Reads Emotions to Choose Songs first appeared on Gajitz.

It’s easy to get completely immersed in online role playing games like Everquest or Second Life, but so far communicating with other players leaves a lot to be desired. Facial expressions and gestures are not communicated well, and vocal communications mostly consist of adolescents shouting insults into headsets. Sony has developed new technology that will let players of its popular Everquest II game send their own facial expressions and voices directly into the game via avatars.

Using the SOEmote technology, players will use a regular old webcam to capture facial expressions and head movements during gameplay. When you nod, your avatar nods. When you shake your head, roll your eyes, tilt your head to the side, smile, speak or furrow your brow, your avatar does exactly the same.

The SOEmote system also lets users change their voices to match their characters. Those 12-year-old boys hurling insults through the body of a mighty warrior can finally have a voice to fit the image. Just be careful, though – MMORPGs are already addictive, but adding another layer of realism might mean you never want to take a break to visit the real world.

The post So Emotional: Player Expressions Translated to MMORPG first appeared on Gajitz.

We’ve all wondered what it would be like to have a different face, even if it’s just for a day. Would like be different if we all looked like George Clooney or Eva Mendes? How about if we could change appearance at will, putting on and taking off any face without the way-too-complicated face transplant procedure? The Faces project from Arturo Castro is giving us a taste of what it might be like to look different for just a little while.

Castro’s face substitution technique works in real time to overlay a different countenance on top that of the user. Using a photograph of someone else, special software creates a mesh that matches the face’s contours and features. The mesh is superimposed on the user’s face and another bit of clever software interjects color and blends the old and new faces. While the effect is impressive, there are a few rough patches that are ultimately very noticeable.

Kyle McDonald took the idea and improved the blending, which has the overall effect of making the facial replacement almost too good. With the smoother blending it is sometimes difficult to tell any substitution has happened at all, which is way creepier than an obvious replacement.

The post Look at You Now: Replace Your Face With Anyone Else’s first appeared on Gajitz.