5 ms·
Algorithms to enhance or transform images
- niels_bom 15y agoThe "remove an object" image transformation reminds me of the Photoshop new feature "content-aware fill" featured here: http://youtu.be/NH0aEp1oDOI?t=3m33s http://youtu.be/NH0aEp1oDOI?t=3m33s
- StavrosK 15y agoIf I recall correctly, they both use the same inpainting algorithm.
- maciejgryka 15y agoThat's right AFAIK, it's PatchMatch http://gfx.cs.princeton.edu/pubs/Barnes_2009_PAR/index.php http://gfx.cs.princeton.edu/pubs/Barnes_2009_PAR/index.php
- wmat 15y agoThe 'beautify a face' transformation should be renamed 'normalize a face' or something slightly less subjective then beauty. Although, I suppose 'normalize' isn't any less subjective. Suggestions? Perhaps 'standardize' or 'anglicize' or 'fashionize'?
- bh42222 15y agoHuman opinion of what's "beautiful" in other human faces is not entirely subjective. It has been know for a while that if you start averaging faces you end up with a "pretty" face. This is because we genetically like symmetry, and averaging out faces makes them very symmetrical.
- diiq 15y agoThere was a paper here on HN a few months back that compared averaged faces to faces with unchanged bone structure but smoothed skin; the differences in rated attractiveness were apparently negligible (and average faces with bad skin faired poorly). Averaging removes blemishes. Cartoonists and animators have long contended that some small asymmetries enhance the emotional connection we have with a character --- think of a puppy with one ear that points up, or with a spot over one eye. Sympathy isn't beauty, I admit; I think it might contribute to attraction, though.
- sliverstorm 15y agosome small asymmetries enhance the emotional connection Small asymmetries. Which, by design must be built on top of something that is otherwise relatively perfect. Otherwise the asymmetry does not stand out, and the whole thing is just a mess. For example, a mangy old cur with one ear that points up, or a spot over one eye.
- wmat 15y agoPerhaps, but the use of a term like "we genetically like symmetry" bugs me. Has it actually been scientifically proven that humans have a genetic predisposition toward preferring symmetry? My google-fu turned up nothing. Isn't opinion naturally subjective, albeit informed by societal influences one way or the other?
- bh42222 15y agoMy google-fu also fails me. This is the best I found: http://www.metafilter.com/62173/The-hypnotic-beauty-of-the-average-face http://www.metafilter.com/62173/The-hypnotic-beauty-of-the-a... I based my initial opinion on a documentary about someone who had tried to find the "typical criminal" face by averaging the mugshots of criminals. But to his shock, the resulting face kept turning out beautiful. But again, my google-fu fails me.
- jessriedel 15y agoThis isn't symmetry per se, but the study referred to here does suggest that beauty is mostly innate: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6355-babies-prefer-to-gaze-upon-beautiful-faces.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6355-babies-prefer-to-... (They didn't do any averaging.) This article says that symmetry specifically has also be found to be attractive to babies: http://www.jyi.org/volumes/volume6/issue6/features/feng.html http://www.jyi.org/volumes/volume6/issue6/features/feng.html Not sure if that was separate from the averaging mentioned.
- jallmann 15y ago>Has it actually been scientifically proven that humans have a genetic predisposition toward preferring symmetry? http://www.grajfoner.com/Clanki/Perrett%201999%20Symetry%20Attractiveness.pdf http://www.grajfoner.com/Clanki/Perrett%201999%20Symetry%20A... seems to imply so. (I'm sure you can find something else stating the opposite though.) That paper was cited as a reference in the original beautification paper, which can be found here http://www.leyvand.com/research/beautification2008/attractiveness2008.pdf http://www.leyvand.com/research/beautification2008/attractiv....
- matthew-wegner 15y ago
- TeMPOraL 15y agoI remember an art teacher who demonstrated me that we actually don't like symmetry in faces - he shown us a picture of a woman face composed of one half, and its mirror image. This face was completely symmetric (vertically), but didn't feel quite "right".
- burgerbrain 15y agoThat seems a good deal less scientific than the numerous studies that have strongly suggested the opposite.
- TeMPOraL 15y agoYou are right, of course. I was just providing a data point.
- bitwize 15y agoBut the face on the left is more beautiful. She has large eyes and lips and a strong jaw -- outstanding features which arrest the gaze. The "beautified" version of her face was just kind of "meh".
- gnaritas 15y agoI think most people would disagree with you on that.
- joeyespo 15y ago> [from the description on the site] There is no written rule to define whether a face is beautiful or if it is not, then the creators followed the principle that what is more closer to the common is better. I initially thought this was the same experiment done a while ago where people rated different faces according to their preferred beauty. Then the algorithm would normalize an input face based on those preferences. Normalizing just to the common face and having it become more beautiful is kind of unintuitive to me. For instance, I wonder what it would look like to run that algorithm on an already generally-accepted beautiful face and see if it became less so.
- amouat 15y agoI honestly think you could make that argument for the pictures shown. But that's just my subjective opinion...
- wmat 15y agoI see now that the details state that "It is possible through an algorithm for a computer to process a photo or video and produce a modified image, possibly improved." So the use of "possibly improved" makes me happy. I suppose the naming of the algorithm with 'beautify' helps to describe what it typically would be used for.
- bengarvey 15y agoI was about to call BS on a few of these, but then clicked through to the detailed explanations and I'm pretty damn impressed. Colorization technique and UI is pretty slick.
- joeyespo 15y agoEven though I've interned in the field of image processing (and actually understood the math after a while!), the emerging results never cease to amaze me.
- pavel_lishin 15y agoThe face beautification looks like two entirely different faces.
- lhnz 15y agoSome of these are quite cool, particularly the beautification algorithm. But where can these algorithms be found...?
- bignoggins 15y agoSome of these (esp beautify) would make great 99c iphone apps
- gregschlom 15y agoA discussion on the pixel art scaling algorithms was going on here, if you're interested in them: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2034690 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2034690
- Thrymr9 15y agoAny actual implementations of the pixel art scaling algorithm available?
- jonmc12 15y agoA software service with an API that performs these transformations would be amazing.
- adpowers 15y agoI'm surprised content aware image resizing didn't make the list. It is a few years old but still pretty neat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qadw0BRKeMk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qadw0BRKeMk
- scriptproof 15y agoThat deserves an update, yes.
- joshu 15y agothis appears to be blogspam.
- joblessjunkie 15y ago...or, a disorganized regurgitation of papers that have been posted to HN several times in the past. I know it's tiresome to complain about reposts, but can we at least not link to cut-and-paste content farms?