Apple has acquired Faceshift, the company behind the motion capture tech used in Star Wars.
Apple has acquired motion capture technology company, Faceshift, which made it possible for Star War characters to have human-like facial expression. Faceshift captures motion in real time and can read facial expressions, head and other body movements. In Star Wars, this technology was used to redirect actors' movements to CG characters, giving them a more humanistic persona. Apple has not yet revealed any plans to incorporate this technology in their devices but we all know that the iPhone 7 is just on the horizon. In fact, makers of Faceshift have already tested this technology on the Surface Pro 3 tablet paired with an Intel Real Sense camera.
Faceshift is also not the only motion capture company acquired by Apple. About 2 years ago, Apple had also acquired PrimeSense, the comapny responsible for motion capture sensor on the Microsofts Kinect. Apple also owns the Swedish face-recognition company Polar rose which uses their software to recognise faces in images.So, what do you think Apple is upto? Will the next iPad or iPhone sport facial recognition and motion capture? Will Apple make a Google Glass like variable? Or will they make some sort of a gaming device which uses motion capture as a way of interacting with the games. All this may seem to far fetched but Apple is known for taking technology to the next level. For all we know, this could just be another way for Apple to consolidate its technological prowess. Technology giants like Google and Apple are known for acquiring smaller tech companies just to strengthen their portfolio.
Whatever's the reason for Apple's latest conquest of Faceshift, we can't wait for it to translate into real, consumer grade tech from the Cupertino based giant. Till then, check out this cool video of Faceshift in action at GDC 2015.
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Adamya Sharma
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