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Computer Program Knows How to Make You More Beautiful

by Tim Stevens on October 11, 2008 at 01:38 PM

Software to Rearrange, and Beautify, your Face
Chances are you've looked in the mirror before and spotted something on your face you wouldn't mind tweaking, whether it be a simple blemish or something a little more serious such as an uneven eye or a nose that didn't make it through your youth without getting a little crooked.

Such facial issues can be addressed by doctors and surgeons, to some degree (if you've got the money). But if seeing the 'ideal' you in a picture is enough, then a trip to visit some researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) might be in the cards. They've developed software able to start with a single picture of a face and automatically re-arrange its parts dynamically to improve its attractiveness.

The researchers trained a computer program to determine those faces considered by humans to be more attractive. Now, when the computer is given a photograph of any person's face (regardless of race or sex), it will manipulate that input face to improve its geometry. The results are occasionally quite noticeable, like the straightening of the eyes in the woman above, which, we figure, makes her more classically attractive. Sometimes, though, the manipulations look rather too artificial and a bit creepy. And isn't beauty in the eye of the beholder, anyway? Hit the read link to see a whole slideshow of automatically retouched celebrities and see for yourself. [From: The New York Times]

Tags: artificial intelligence, ArtificialIntelligence, beauty, face, photoshop

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