Step 1: Scan a set of expressions to train your personalized avatar for tracking. Capture facial animations that are realistic and emotional, with a system that is affordable and easy to use. Not much has been seen in the way of shipping products outside of the Photos app, which recognizes faces for automatic image sorting. Apple also acquired Israeli PrimeSense, a company best known for its collaboration on Microsoft's Kinect system for Xbox.Īpple's interest in and is well documented in the company's patent portfolio. In 2010, Apple bought, a Swedish firm that developed software capable of recognizing users based on facial characteristics. If Apple did indeed purchase Faceshift, it wouldn't be the first time the company expressed interest in facial recognition technology with its wallet. Apple does not comment on rumor or speculation, a company representative said.

Apple is staying mum on the subject, however, as are former employees. While Frey does not appear to have prior connections to Apple, the Cupertino company has been known to conduct legal operations through Baker & McKenzie.įurther, key employees like, a veteran in the computer graphics industry, and are seemingly no longer with the company, as seen in their respective LInkedIn bios. Citing a Swiss company registry from August, MacRumors notes Faceshift was by an outside company, with three corporate directors replaced by Baker & McKenzie attorney Martin Frey. Various consumer iterations were in development, including a Skype plugin for real-time animated chats. The company's previous offerings included Faceshift Studio, a piece of software that featured animation plugins for Maya and Unity.

Unlike traditional motion capture technology, which uses stick-on markers as reference points to track facial expressions, solution relies on powerful facial recognition software and 3D sensors to drive animations.

Faceshift studio apple