August 6, 2006 Computer scientists from Bath and Boston have developed electronic artwork that changes to match the mood of the person who is looking at it. Using images collected through a web cam, special software recognises eight key facial features that characterise the emotional state of the person viewing the artwork, then adapts the colours and brush strokes of the digital artwork to suit the changing mood of the viewer. For example, when the viewer is angry the colours are dark and appear to have been applied to the canvas with more violent brush strokes. If their expression changes to happy, the artwork adapts so that the colours are vibrant and more subtly applied. The project forms part of on-going research looking to develop a range of advanced artwork tools for use in the computer graphics industry.
This has already resulted in software which produces highly-detailed artistic versions of photographs, and allows designers to create animations directly from digital footage.
“The programme analyses the image for eight facial expressions, such as the position and shape of the mouth, the openness of the eyes, and the angle of the brows, to work out the emotional state of the viewer,” said Dr John Collomosse from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bath.
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