The imaging software has been developed by computer scientist based at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the University of Texas at Dallas, and it provides a new human-intuitive dimension to the rendering of human images.
According to Phys.org, the “crowdshaping technology” generates 3D body models from 2D photographs via crowd sourced linguistic descriptions of body shape. Here the Body Talk software takes a single photograph and creates three dimensional body shapes that resemble the person. The images are said to be accurate enough for a designer to create an outfit that would fit the person perfectly.
This is achieved through the use of 15 people who view the two-dimensional photograph and then rate the body shape using 30 words or fewer. The Body Talk device cleverly uses machine learning to discover this relationship between the verbal descriptions of bodies made by people and the actual 3D shape.
Key words selected by the people describing the images include descriptors relating to gender, physical strength, attractiveness, and health. To demonstrate the software at a special launch event, 2D images of celebrities were used to produce 3D avatars of the celebrities. These computer-generated images could then be animated.
The results are said to be as accurate as scanning technology and the images are said to be more life-like, because they are formed from interpretations from human triggered descriptions rather than computer commands.
In a research note, the lead developer Dr. Michael J. Black said: “Capturing 3-D body shape remains a challenge, and our goal is to make it easy and fun. Our research shows that people have a shared understanding of body shape that is expressed in our use of language.”
The technology has a number of potential applications. As well as clothes, the software could be used for online shopping, computer gaming, developing virtual reality platforms and with healthcare, including designing medical devices for specific patients.
There may also be a learning element, for the platform can challenge perceptions about obesity, body dimorphism, or cross-cultural attitudes about body shape. A free version of the software can be accessed online.
