Microsoft Patents "Cartoon Face Generation" 117
theodp writes "The latest round of patents granted by the USPTO included one for Cartoon Face Generation, an invention which Microsoft explains 'generates an attractive cartoon face or graphic of a user's facial image'. Microsoft adds, 'The style of cartoon face achieved resembles the likeness of the user more than cartoons generated by conventional vector-based cartooning techniques. The cartoon faces thus achieved provide an attractive facial appearance and thus have wide applicability in art, gaming, and messaging applications in which a pleasing degree of realism is desirable without exaggerated comedy or caricature.' A Microsoft Research Face SDK Beta is available. Hey, too bad Microsoft didn't have this technology when they generated Bob from Ralphie!"
Re:Cartoon Face Generation (Score:4, Informative)
I don't have the link for MS tech but if you surf long enough you'll find some others already offering to make your avatar photo cartoonish with a pretty animated demo.
Re:Cartoon Face Generation (Score:5, Informative)
Burger King did this via a website with the Simpson's years ago. It was called SimpsonizeMe or something like that. Also, the Wii U does it now to create Mii's.
Re:Prior art (Score:5, Informative)
I guess you didn't actually read the reference pages you berating. From the Rotoscoping wikipedia page:
In the mid-1990s, Bob Sabiston, an animator and computer scientist veteran of the MIT Media Lab, developed a computer-assisted "interpolated rotoscoping" process which he used to make his award-winning short film "Snack and Drink". Director Richard Linklater subsequently employed Sabiston's artistry and his proprietary Rotoshop software in the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006).[7] Linklater licensed the same proprietary rotoscoping process for the look of both films. Linklater is the first director to use digital rotoscoping to create an entire feature film. Additionally, a 2005–08 advertising campaign by Charles Schwab uses Sabiston's rotoscoping work for a series of television spots, under the tagline "Talk to Chuck".
So, even though Rotoscoping was first a manual technique done in 1915 and patented in 1917 (tracing live action frames that are projected onto the back of a frosted glass panel), that process moved to using a computer, and then was automated within the Rotoshop software.
There's even a patent from 1994 mentioned: US Patent 6,061,462 http://www.google.com/patents?vid=6061462 [google.com] for a digital rotoscoping process (that's a separate work from the Rotoshop software).
These may all be listed in Microsoft's patent - I haven't read it - but they certainly seem related, if not prior art.