IF the rumor is true, it’s not Apple’s first rodeo when it comes to facial motion and gesture control technology. You can also get a perpetual license for non-commercial use for $150. Each seat of the software costs US$1,500/year.

The animation data may be streamed live into Maya, MotionBuilder or Unity, or exported in a range of standard file formats, including BVH and FBX.įaceshift Studio 2015 - which has reportedly been discontinued - is (was?) available for Mac OS X and Windows. The software analyzes the face motions of an actor, and describes them as a mixture of basic expressions, plus head orientation and gaze, to create a custom 3D avatar, and to record facial animation data in real time. The company’s Faceshift Studio is a markerless facial motion capture system. Biometric security is one obvious application, but industry experts say the real payoff will probably be in visual effects for games and /or, basing its conclusion on “a few whispers and some research,” says it “thinks” that Apple has bought a company called Faceshift. What exactly Apple plans to do with its new expertise in facial recognition and motion technology is not clear. The iPhone maker also holds a range of patents in related fields. Of interest, the Faceshift’s new tech was used to create the human-like movements of faces of some characters in the new “Star Wars” film.īy adding Faceshift, Apple continues to grow its portfolio of facial recognition technology firms, including Swedish firm Polar Rose in 2010 and Israeli company PrimeSense, who were collaborators on the Kinect hardware and software for the Microsoft Xbox, in 2013. Using 3D sensors and a camera, Faceshift’s new method eliminated traditional motion capture rigging (the stick-on reference markers often worn by actors). Apparently, TechCrunch and others did some sleuthing to confirm that several ex-Faceshift employees ended up at Apple and now work out of the company’s European offices, and that was enough to convince Apple to spill the beans.įaceshift had been developing facial recognition software that was used in advanced motion capture technology capable of real-time, low-cost processing.

Faceshift 2015