It all started when I found on the Internet a “fun toy” that transforms a digital portrait photo (think: passport photo) into one of several possible choices. After the visit to that website, I was off and running, finding more face fun or face research to make it my CyberScribbles topic of the week. Betcha find at least one of the sites mentioned here taking up more online time than you intended.
Face Transformer . The St. Andrews University School of Computer Science is using this web page for scientific research, they say. Before you upload your facial portrait from your digital files, know ahead of time that the people at this website (researchers) reserve the right to use your image for research. They add that they won’t publish it on the Web, in scientific journals, or in the media without your permission. If you feel comfortable with those warnings, then have at it. Here’s what the face transformer can do: change your face to look like a chimp, a drunk, or another race (East Asian, West Asian, or Afro-Caribbean); a Manga cartoon; a painting in the style of Modigliani, Botticelli, or El Greco; a baby, child, teen, young adult, or older adult. You can save your transformed image to your hard disk, too. You would be wise to resize your photo before uploading so that it will load faster. I’m sure the research team assumes that you are using your own image, not an ex-beau’s. But then, think of the devilish possibilities…
Face Analyzer . If you had fun at the face transformer site, you can add to your amusement by uploading your portrait at this site, too. The pose that works the best here is a straight-on expressionless headshot with good lighting. Once uploaded, your portrait will produce a ranked list of your personality traits: intelligence, risk, ambition, honor, politeness, income, stability, and promiscuity. The analyzer also provides you with your archetype (academic, boss, artist, charmer, blue collar, white collar, gambler, or drifter) and a race analysis. The site authors say they can determine your race and gender within 87% accuracy. They don’t rate their personality analyzer. You can read about how your archetype relates to the others, and for another bit of fun, you can access a huge file of celebrity faces and find out what the analyzer had to say about them. The Face Analyzer is billed as “the only automated face reader in the world.” How accurate is it? I have not uploaded my pix here (yet), so I can’t tell you. You are on your own. You can send me an email with your evaluation, if you would like.
Little Faces Traveling Exhibit . Andrew Davidhazy of the Rochester Institute of Technology took the imaging mechanism out of a scanner and put it into a regular 35mm camera. Then he had people pose on a revolving platform and snapped their images. The results are what you will see in this one-page display of morphed images. If you want to see more wizardry resulting from the latest photo imaging technology (but they are not faces), go to another of Davidhazy’s pages about photographing the invisible.
Beautyrank . Developed by “a team of explorers,” this website posts a portrait gallery of those they deem the most beautiful women. And, they analyze each woman’s facial features to describe why these women are beautiful, or not. For a price ($19.95), a woman can submit her portrait and get a personal analysis, with rankings for categories including eyes, lips, and nose, and positive and negative features. The truly brave (or maybe egotistical, or maybe solidly self-confident) can agree to have their photos and ranks posted online—and possibly be chosen “Most Beautiful Woman of the Month.”
Related sites: No room left to describe them here, but see for yourself: Beautycheck and Beautyanalysis.
