Disney’s age-altering AI can make young actors look 80 and older actors 20 in REAL-TIME

Disney researchers are set to transform Hollywood with a new AI tool that could eliminate the need for special effects to change the age of actors playing characters in a film.

Using the Facial Re-aging Network (FRAN), filmmakers can now make actors look younger than 20 or 80 by simply entering a head shot of a person into a system that then predicts which parts of the face should be reshaped with age. .

Then he adds the effects like wrinkles or smooth skin as a layer on an actor’s face in a movie or TV show, without requiring a skilled artist to manually change frame by frame, usually resulting in a loss of facial identity.

Disney is touting its AI tool as a first-of-its-kind solution that can automatically change the age of an actor in a video, regardless of facial expressions, lighting conditions, and viewpoints.

The AI ​​tool gets a headshot (input) and delivers results from 20 to 80 years.

The AI ​​tool gets a headshot (input) and delivers results from 20 to 80 years.

Disney created AI to not only provide a more convincing age change, but also eliminate the need for time-consuming retouching.

Disney created AI to not only provide a more convincing age change, but also eliminate the need for time-consuming retouching.

The system was trained on 2,000 synthetically generated images, allowing it to learn different facial expressions to keep the age-altered layer stable as the actor moves in the film.  The input image (original image) is modified to show it is 75 years old (top) and then 20 (bottom).

The system was trained on 2,000 synthetically generated images, allowing it to learn different facial expressions to keep the age-altered layer stable as the actor moves in the film. The input image (original image) is modified to show it is 75 years old (top) and then 20 (bottom).

Digital re-aging of actors’ faces has become popular over the years, but current models don’t seem to be able to convince viewers.

Recent use of rejuvenation technology was seen in the Netflix movie The Irishman, which was pitched by director Martin Scorsese, who spent millions of dollars on digital rejuvenation effects, but the results were panned by viewers.

The gangster movie cost about $159 million, but most of the money went towards making Robert De Niro look in his 20s — he was 76 when the movie was made.

Many viewers noted that the results were inconsistent across video frames.

AI smoothes the skin or adds wrinkles to make the actor look older than he really is

AI smoothes the skin or adds wrinkles to make the actor look older than he really is

The researchers said that AI is capable of aging blurry frames in a film.

The researchers said that AI is capable of aging blurry frames in a film.

The idea is not only to make the age change more convincing, but also to eliminate the time-consuming and costly method of hair and makeup (pictured).

The idea is not only to make the age change more convincing, but also to eliminate the time-consuming and costly method of hair and makeup (pictured).

One redditor shared, “It’s pretty obvious I’m looking at an old man with a Snapchat filter over him.

“By the way he walks, moves, talks, it’s so obvious that this is an old man pretending to be 30-40 years younger. It just looks SO bad and honestly I wish they would use multiple actors to play different parts of Robert’s character.”

This problem seems to be the main cause of Disney’s FRAN.

“While facial re-aging research has attempted to automate and address this issue, current methods are of little practical use as they typically suffer from loss of facial identity, low resolution, and unstable results in subsequent video frames,” Disney said in a statement. study conducted in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The work began with a database of 2,000 synthetically generated faces, each with 14 different ages ranging from 18 to 85 years old, yielding a total of 196 training pairs for each chosen personality.

The researchers then used the “tested” neural network to change the ages of the synthetic faces, leading to the development of FRAN.

The input image is fed to the AI ​​and returns the results requested by the filmmaker.  Age is in increments of 10 years

The input image is fed to the AI ​​and returns the results requested by the filmmaker. Age is in increments of 10 years

The AI ​​works by predicting which parts of the face will age and then adding effects such as wrinkles or skin smoothing.

The AI ​​works by predicting which parts of the face will age and then adding effects such as wrinkles or skin smoothing.

The neural networks used, according to the researchers, are well known for preserving the spatial location of the input data.

According to the researchers, it is now capable of “unprecedented temporal stability and preservation of facial identity across different expressions, viewpoints, and lighting conditions.”

And the temporal smoothness of the input video frames naturally contributes to the good temporal consistency of the FRAN output.

“Together, these factors make FRAN an excellent, production-ready solution for re-aging real faces in video,” the researchers wrote in the study.

While Disney hasn't revealed how it plans to use FRAN, it has used the technology in movies like Ant-Man.

There is a flashback scene in the Marvel movie, set decades before the rest of the story, showing a young Hank Pym leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. due to their unrevealed attempts to replicate its dwindling technology.

While Disney hasn’t revealed how it plans to use FRAN, it has used the technology in movies like Ant-Man. On the left is Kirk Douglas as Hank Pym, and on the right is a young man.

To change the age of images, FRAN is asked to individually display images (frames in a movie or TV show) between the ages of 20 and 80 in 10-year increments.

The team notes that this technique allows FRAN to handle different head poses and lighting, as well as modify faces that may appear blurry in some frames.

However, the study notes that this technology is only targeted at adults and does not change the hair on a person’s head or the shape of a person’s face.

While Disney hasn’t revealed how it plans to use FRAN, it has used the technology in movies like Ant-Man.

There is a flashback scene in the Marvel movie, set decades before the rest of the story, showing a young Hank Pym leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. due to their unrevealed attempts to replicate its shrinking technology.