Ask any girl: choosing a new hairstyle can be one of the most difficult tasks on this planet.
And while that might be an overstatement – we know that – it has a lot to do with the fact that we never know exactly how a new hairstyle would fit our faces or complement our appearance.
However, this problem has finally found a solution in the form of a piece of software created by researchers at the University of Washington. Meet Dreambit, the software that allows you to better imagine how you will look with a completely new hairstyle.
You don’t have to try that new bob or shave your head for real to see if a new hairdo will suit you – at least, not anymore. The software can even “turn back time” and allow you to see if a particular color or hairstyle would have looked good on you when you were 12 years old.
Dreambit is useful and entertaining at the same time
Using the software is really easy; all you need to do is upload a photo of you and then type a search term for what you would be interested (e.g. “black curly hair” or “1960s”). After looking through internet photo collections and different categories, the software will seamlessly give you the new look.
To offer an end result that fits your face as much as possible, the new software searches through hundreds of thousands of photographs that people have uploaded on the internet. Then, it copies and pastes only the elements of the appearance that look similar yours.
At the same time, its creators say the software’s abilities are fine tuned to change a person’s look while also keeping the original face shape intact, as well as their pose and expression.
“This is a way to try on different looks or personas without actually changing your physical appearance,” explains Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman, one of the developers. “While imagining what you’d look like with a new hairstyle is mind blowing, it also lets you experiment with creative imaginative scenarios.”
Many elements were involved in creating the new software, including facial recognition and processing, age progression, and three-dimensional reconstruction.
Thanks to the age progression software built by Kemelmacher-Shlizerman herself, the software can come up with different photographs representing a specific country, period, and age.
Image Source: Digital Trends