Patent: Disney to Clone Human Faces for Realistic Audio Animatronics

GizmoDuck

GizmoDuck

Member
Original Poster
Via StitchKingdom:

In this day and age in which 3D scans of human faces are turned into exciting keepsakes such as the Disney/LucasFilm Star Wars Weekends experience ‘Carbon Freeze Me,’ in which guests could receive a replica of themselves frozen in carbonite a la Han Solo, and the upcoming ‘I Am A Princess,’ which builds on a previous test in which guests could have a princess doll in their likeness made, technology is becoming a key player in what has been even the most traditional of trades.

Therefore it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the pioneering technologies employed by The Walt Disney Company is being updated in a fascinating new way that will attempt to make audio animatronic figures rival the most advanced 3D, high definition screens. The ominous-sounding ‘Physical Face Cloning’ patent application (US 2012/0185218) seeks to improve upon the decades-old theme park experience by using some complicated algorithms to produce the most life-like audio animatronic figures to date.

Based on the listed location of the majority of the inventing team, the project appears to come out of Disney Research in Zurich, Switzerland. Disney Research recently came into the limelight with its technology dubbed touche, allowing users to control devices by gestures.

The problem with today’s audio animatronic figures, according to the patent, is that they require enlisting a team of animators, sculptors and other experts to create a face and skeletal system able to produce a realistic set of human expressions, as relayed through a layer of artificial skin. Taking the guess work out of the process, the new system could simply use motion capture technology to record the human subject’s face making various expressions and, via some very non-simple mathematical formulas, generate the perfect layer of silicone rubber skin (or whichever material is desired) of varying thickness, along with directions for attaching said skin to the skeleton, so that when the skin is stretched and manipulated on the figure to form the desired expressions, it provides the most realistic visuals possible.
Click to expand...

Sounds very exciting. Your thoughts?
 
GizmoDuck

GizmoDuck

Member
Original Poster
Now that I think more about it, I hope the animatronics don't lose their charm that the animators give to them.

It was nice seeing these cartoons come to life. Too realistic may just be creepy.

I wonder if this will be used heavily for AVATAR?
 
Beholder

Beholder

Well-Known Member
Some of the more advanced robotics with extreme realism are creepy. In the ones I've seen, it's the eyes that are so "inhuman". It's kind of unnerving, but if anyone can overcome that issue, it should be WDI.
 
yeti

yeti

Well-Known Member
Say what you will. I think it sounds great!

GizmoDuck said:
Now that I think more about it, I hope the animatronics don't lose their charm that the animators give to them.

It was nice seeing these cartoons come to life. Too realistic may just be creepy.

I wonder if this will be used heavily for AVATAR?
Click to expand...

Personally, I've always longed for this kind of technology to arrive. In creating human AA's, the goal should always be to look as authentic and realistic as possible. Although I do get what you're saying...it would be shocking, but I'm fairly certain the unveiling of talking tiki birds back in the early '60s caused a similar impact. I say bring it.
 
jakeman

jakeman

Well-Known Member
GizmoDuck said:
Now that I think more about it, I hope the animatronics don't lose their charm that the animators give to them.

It was nice seeing these cartoons come to life. Too realistic may just be creepy.

I wonder if this will be used heavily for AVATAR?
Click to expand...
Beholder said:
Some of the more advanced robotics with extreme realism are creepy. In the ones I've seen, it's the eyes that are so "inhuman". It's kind of unnerving, but if anyone can overcome that issue, it should be WDI.
Click to expand...
That would be called the "uncanny valley". Acceptance of a robot as human increase until a certain point in realism, then drops exponentially.

450px-Mori_Uncanny_Valley.svg.png
 
c-one

c-one

Well-Known Member
Beholder said:
Some of the more advanced robotics with extreme realism are creepy. In the ones I've seen, it's the eyes that are so "inhuman". It's kind of unnerving, but if anyone can overcome that issue, it should be WDI.
Click to expand...
Ah yes, the "Uncanny Valley" effect... when it gets so close to lifelike that the imperfections stand out. Freaky.
 
Beholder

Beholder

Well-Known Member
Perhaps the effect is similar to that of virtual reality simulators (in theory) will be a hard sell because if you know something isn't real, but is presented to you as real, the mind has a hard time reconciling that fact. Things become "odd" and therefore "creepy". We look for similar traits in others (humans) and will spot anything that's a bit "off". I'm thinking Jude Law in the movie A.I. as a "Mecha".

It'll be interesting to see how far they can take this technology. Worst case scenario, "West World".
 
Redsky89

Redsky89

Well-Known Member
I think it's cool. I could see over time once this gets implemented that older rides with animatronics get refurbished with all new ones. I say go for it.
 

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