Disney introduces “FRAN,” an artificial intelligence that regenerates and ages actors

What is FRAN and how does it work?

In academic research, Disney Research Studios has indicated that FRAN – Face Responsive Network For its acronym in English – it is a neural network trained using a large database containing pairs of randomly generated artificial faces of different ages. This is to avoid having to find thousands of photos of real people, of different ages, that represent the same facial expression, pose, lighting, and background.

FRAN uses the information to predict which areas of a person’s face might be aging and adds layers with that detail – like adding or removing wrinkles.

The company’s research study claims it’s the first practical, fully automatic, production-ready method for aging faces in video images.

“Not only are our results consistent and continuous for age, but they also closely match the identity of the input image. In addition, our method works well for realistically increasing and decreasing age,” the document explains while represented by images.

However, artificial intelligence still has some limitations. For example, Disney has noted that FRAN is not supported for some mods, such as the very young mod.

Disney: a technology incubator

Over the past century, part of the Disney empire has been shaped by exploiting its vast portfolio of industrial property rights, being responsible for many technological inventions relevant to the film industry and technology.

For example, in 1928, they were the first to synchronize the music in animation with the short film. Steamboat WillieWhere we first heard Mickey Mouse. Soon after, in his animation Flowers and trees They brought color to the animation.

In 1937, they used the invention of the multi-plane camera, which allowed them to shoot in their short films The old mill Explore different spaces and atmospheres with your camera. The multi-plane camera has been the standard for creating iconic shots and special effects in films like Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, and even The Little Mermaid.