Just about everyone who wears makeup has a slightly different strategy for applying it. Some people swear by complex techniques like contouring. Others are devotees of the bizarre-looking clown makeup method.
All beauty gurus do have one thing in common, though — they apply their makeup directly to their faces. ‘Well, DUH,” says the entire world. That is, after all, where makeup traditionally goes.
But bear with me. In this brave new world of technological advancement, it’s no longer a given that makeup is applied physically with brushes and sponges. Now, instead of smearing on powders and creams, there are people out there experimenting with virtual make-up that perfects the magical illusions that makeup artists create.
What, exactly, does that mean? Well, as far as I can tell, it uses a lot of the same technology as the CGI we know and love from the movies.
Project Omote (the Japanese word for face or mask) has mastered a technique of mapping the face with small markers, and then projecting a photorealistic mask onto the face. Using this strategy, the artists behind the project can create countless makeup ‘looks’ and switch them on and off in seconds.
The model goes into the process with a bare face, aside from the twenty or so small white dots that allow the computer to track her face. Seconds in, she’s fully made-up for a night on the town, and it only gets stranger from there. Just wait until :40, truly spine-tingling.
Do you think that virtual make-up will ever go mainstream? Please SHARE with your friends and let us know whether you would ever try this!
OMOTE / REAL-TIME FACE TRACKING & PROJECTION MAPPING from nobumichi asai on Vimeo.
