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GPU Accelerated Realtime Skin Smoothing Algorithms Make Actors Look Perfect
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/12/curse-of-perfection-male-actors-poldark
A recent Guardian article about the need for actors and celebrities -- male and female -- to look their best in a high-definition media world ended on the note that several low-profile Los Angeles VFX outfits specialize in "beautifying actors" in movies, TV shows and video ads. They reportedly use a software named "Beauty Box," resulting in films and other motion content that are -- for lack of a better term -- "motion Photoshopped." After some investigating, it turns out that "Beauty Box" is a sophisticated CUDA and OpenGL accelerated skin-smoothing plugin for many popular video production software that not only smooths even terribly rough or wrinkly looking skin effectively, but also suppresses skin spots, blemishes, scars, acne or freckles in realtime, or near realtime, using the video processing capabilities of modern GPUs.
The product's short demo reel is here with a few examples. Everybody knows about photoshopped celebrities in an Instagram world, and in the print magazine world that came long before it, but far fewer people seem to realize that the near-perfect actor, celebrity, or model skin you see in high-budget productions is often the result of "digital makeup" -- if you were to stand next to the person being filmed in real life, you'd see far more ordinary or aged skin from the near-perfection that is visible on the big screen or little screen. The fact that the algorithms are realtime capable also means that they may already be being used for live television broadcasts without anyone noticing, particularly in HD and 4K resolution broadcasts. The question, as was the case with photoshopped magazine fashion models 25 years ago, is whether the technology creates an unrealistic expectation of having to have "perfectly smooth looking" skin to look attractive, particularly in people who are past their teenage years.
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| There are no conversations. |
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| cauz |
Jan. 15, 2019, 4:58 p.m. |
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| Annie Jacobsen |
In the late 1960s, Ontario Airport was a throwback to a bygone era. Located 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, the airport served only two carriers, Western and Bonanza. Passengers could catch regional flights to San Francisco, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Phoenix and Los Angeles, and that was about it. |
| Mark Indelicato |
Before I really became interested in fashion, all I would look at in a fashion magazine was the ads. It only dawned on me recently that just looking at the ads really doesn't teach you everything you need to know about the fashion world. |
| Miguel de Icaza |
The software patent problem is not limited to Mono. Software patents affect everyone writing software today. |
| Sue Gardner |
If it were a choice between putting ads on Wikipedia or shutting down Wikipedia, we would then very reluctantly consider putting ads on Wikipedia. |
| Sue Gardner |
I am very aware of the fact that it's highly unlikely anyone will write an article via their mobile phone. I've done it, but it's painful. And it's not just about the small keyboard and the small screen - though that's awful. It's the emotional experience of writing an article. |
| Stephen Gaghan |
When I moved to Los Angeles, I wrote spec screenplays. I was really poor, and I thought I was just gonna do this for a while to make a little money so I could write novels. I thought movies were a second-class art form. I condescended to it - I didn't know enough to know it was really gonna be hard. |
| Bill Gates |
The way to be successful in the software world is to come up with breakthrough software, and so whether it's Microsoft Office or Windows, its pushing that forward. New ideas, surprising the marketplace, so good engineering and good business are one in the same. |
| Joel Edgerton |
The first video I ever watched was on a Beta system because everyone thought Beta was the way but then it ended up being video so we backed the wrong horse. |
| Afrika Bambaataa |
I'm fanatical about movies: African, European, Viking, Roman. I got into witchcraft and magic from watching 'Bewitched' and 'The Wizard of Oz,' which shows in some of my outfits. I dress to reflect the whole spectrum of the universe. |
| Bulent Ecevit |
There was expectations that the fights there, the operation there might be extended for several months, even for several years. But within a few weeks it ended, because obviously the Taliban wasn't a real force. |
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I had a dream that the spiral staircase in the BBB was in the middle of that giant open space instead of the corner and that the University of Michigan would hire well known actors to stand at the bottom of various staircases in the building and make fun of students that walk by.
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Facebook Pledges To Crack Down on Government-led Misinformation Campaigns
Facebook is pressing its enforcement against what it calls "information operations" -- bad actors who use the platform to spread fake news and false propaganda. From a report:
The company, which published a report on the subject today, defines these operations as government-led campaigns -- or those from organized "non-state actors" -- to promote lies, sow confusion and chaos among opposing political groups, and destabilize movements in other countries. The goal of these operations, the report says, is to manipulate public opinion and serve geopolitical ends. The actions go beyond the posting of fake news stories. Th...
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Though I agree that it is a pretty common trope in media today for a male hero to be rewarded with the primary female lead (regardless of the boring details of their actual day-to-day compatibility, regardless of whether she wants it, because of course she does). Being rewarded for doing everything right by getting a girlfriend and sex has become such an assumed aspect of a good ending that I am a bit troubled by it.
This post is a comment.
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Lyrebird claims it can recreate any voice using just one minute of sample audio
Artificial intelligence is making human speech as malleable and replicable as pixels. Today, a Canadian AI startup named Lyrebird unveiled its first product: a set of algorithms the company claims can clone anyone’s voice by listening to just a single minute of sample audio.
A few years ago this would have been impossible, but the analytic prowess of machine learning has proven to be a perfect fit for the idiosyncrasies of human speech. Using artificial intelligence, companies like Google have been able to creat...
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Release Date: Early 1994 Disappearance Date: Early 2000's
Shazam was played on Disney Channel a lot. At first it was movie and then later became a short-lived series. It really hurt Sinbad's career.
Movie Actors: Sinbad, Jonathan Brandis
Johnathan Brandis was in the movie, but not the series. Possibly Danny Pintauro, Brian Bonsall, or Johnathan Taylor Thomas could have replaced him.
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As the plot unfolds, it becomes clear that Elliot hacks and doxes the people in his life (including himself), then stores the information he finds onto CDs. He then labels them with some classic band label.
Many have wondered why he'd be doing that and how safe would that be?
The answer is that Eliot is hiding the data on those CDs. He is actually copying music to those CDs, then embedding encrypted information on them that only he can recover. So anyone who finds them will see and hear only audio and will be unable to find or retrieve the hidden information. In this way, Elliot's data on h...
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I feel like everything but the core algorithms that drive a program is just meaningless, kinda arbitrary glue logic. There's very little real beauty there.
Is that why for every 1 system architect there are about 50 code monkeys?
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High School in China Installs Facial Recognition Cameras To Monitor Students' Attentiveness
A high school in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province located on the eastern coast of China, has employed facial recognition technology to monitor students' attentiveness in class, local media reports. From the report:
At Hangzhou Number 11 High School, three cameras at the front of the classroom scan students' faces every 30 seconds, analyzing their facial expressions to detect their mood, according to a May 16 report in the state-run newspaper The Paper. The different moods -- surprised, sad, antipathy, angry, happy, afraid, neutral -- are recorded and averaged during each class. A display screen, on...
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A Hacker 'Hero' Has Been Banned From Cyber Conferences After Decades Of Inappropriate Behavior (
John Draper, a prankster hero to an early generation of hackers, used his status at cybersecurity conferences to arrange private meetings with teenage fans and a reporter where he touched them inappropriately, multiple men have told BuzzFeed News. The allegations are the latest in what has become in recent weeks an explosion of sexual misconduct reports that have roiled a seemingly endless list of industries, from Hollywood to the news media to the Alabama Senate race. As in many of those other cases, Draper's actions were well known to at least a core of people who had regular contact with him. Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak told BuzzFeed News that Steve Jobs once told him that Draper, an ear...
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I never thought about the co-evolution of people and AI. There are actually machine learning algorithms that run dating sites that do determine how humans breed.
https://youtu.be/SqEo107j-uw?t=37m25s
Whole video is good too.
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