Coming soon: the Dr Doom Impersonation Device
Comes with free wireframe mask
Were you surprised when Microsoft revealed Avatar Kinect to see the avatars reacting to users' facial expressions? Did you wonder how that was possible? Wonder no more, as Microsoft has released a short video that makes sense of the magic behind the technology.
As you probably expected, the facial mapping appears very similar to Kinect's standard body mapping, with a wireframe image used to calculate points of movement and their relation to each other, with the depth image used to calculate how your facial muscles move to control your expression.
This level of precision from Kinect was previously thought to be either impossible or locked away, hinting at a performance-enhancing patch, the restriction of movement-tracking to the head area or the need for the user to sit much closer to Kinect than usual. We'll find out more as we head towards Avatar Kinect's launch for Xbox Live Gold members this Spring.
User Comments
1. linkster55
13 Jan 2011, 00:57 GMT
Neat!