Amazing automated photochop app: PhotoSketch

Draw a simple sketch, and your computer converts it into a realistic photo. Science fiction? Well, some students have shown off PhotoSketch, their incredible project that does just that... supposedly. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers can't quite get their heads around it.

By Richi Jennings. October 6, 2009.

Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention vehicles in compromising positions...
 
 
Andrew Mager is overwhelmed:

The coolest thing I’ve ever seen a computer do. What if you could draw some stick figures on a screen and somehow magically create a beautiful image montage?
...
A group of students in China have created PhotoSketch, a project that does exactly [that]: it takes a rough, hand-drawn sketch, scours the web for photos that match, and runs them through an algorithm, stitching it all together. ... Mind-blowing.

It blew Jesus Diaz' mind:

Seems unbelievable but ... it works. ... According to authors, their software can take any rough sketch, with the shape of each element labeled with its name, find images corresponding to each drawn element, judge which are a better match to the shapes, and then seamlessly merge it all into one single image.
...
PhotoSketch's blending algorithm analyzes each of these images, compares them with each other, and decides which are better for the blending process. It automatically traces and places them into a single photograph, matching the scene, and adding shadows. ... Tao Chen, Ming-Ming Cheng, Ping Tan, Ariel Shamir, and Shi-Min Hu ... presented it at Siggraph Asia 2009.

Ben Parr's mind is boggling on both cylinders:

[It's] from five Chinese Computer Science and Technology students at Tsinghua University and the National University of Singapore. ... This thing has such great image recognition technology that it can determine which dog fits best in your canine doodle.
...
We’re beyond impressed. ... We can’t wait to see what people build with this thing.

Devin Coldewey calls it "utterly insane": [In a good way, right? -Ed.]

It’s early, experimental, and questionably useful, but it’s just too cool. ... I don’t want to be premature here, but I’d say tentatively that this does appear to be the greatest thing of all time.
...
If this works the way they say it does (and I doubt it does at this point, really), it’d be a party game all to itself. And can you imagine playing with this thing on a tablet?

But permafrost draws the obvious conclusion:

If it works, it's going to take Rule 34 into terrifying new realms of possibility.

 
So what's your take?
Get involved: leave a comment.
 
 
And finally...

• That Will Buff Out: Vehicles in Compromising Positions
  

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him as @richi on Twitter, or richij on FriendFeed, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itblogwatch@richij.com.

 
 
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