New high tech “mirror” alters appearance through augmented reality

To some, appearance means everything. Makeup, new clothes and a new hair style are often enough to satisfy the need for change for many. Cosmetic surgery is a viable option for those wishing to make more radical changes to their body, or for those wishing to make simple adjustments. The age of technology has bred many wonders when it comes to altering one’s body, but these methods have mainly been restricted to static pictures. Researchers at Queen Mary, University of London, have developed a new piece of software that allows users to change their appearance in real-time.

Vlado Kitanovski and Ebroul Izquierdo of the university’s Multimedia and Vision research group have created what they call an “augmented reality mirror.” The program they created makes use of a webcam connected to either a PC or laptop and allows users to manipulate several aspects of their own faces. The program can be set to automatically morph a users face, rearranging their features slightly to produce a new, virtual appearance.

While this is not the first time such a program has been developed, it is certainly the most advanced. In the past, similar programs that have used augmented reality have suffered from shortfalls with stability and performance as the hardware the programs were using was not capable of supporting augmented reality technology.

This new technology could be used by plastic surgeons to create a more accurate depiction of what changes they can make to the face.