Photogrammetry (building 3D from 2D inputs—in this case several source images) is what my friend learned in the Navy to refer to as “FM technology”: “F’ing Magic.”
Side note: I know that saying “Time is a flat circle” is totally worn out… but, like, time is a flat circle, and what’s up with Adobe style-transfer demos showing the same (?) fishing village year after year? Seriously, compare 2013 to 2019. And what a super useless superpower I have in remembering such things. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Back in 2011, my longtime Photoshop boss Kevin Connor left Adobe & launched a startup (see NYT article) with Prof. Hany Farid to help news organizations, law enforcement, and others detect image manipulation. They were ahead of their time, and since then the problem of “fake news” has only gotten worse.
Now Adobe has teamed up with Twitter & others Content Authenticity Initiative, and last night they previewed Project About Face, meant to help spot manipulated pixels—and even maybe reverse the effects. Check it out:
[YouTube]
Like VDub mechanics of yore…
…I’d given up hope of ever seeing one in real life. But great day in the mornin’, we couldn’t quite close out the app’s third decade without it. 😌 Julieanne, show us what we’ve won:
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This new iOS & Android app (not yet available, though you can sign up for prerelease access) promises to analyze images, suggest effects, and keep the edits adjustable (though it’s not yet clear whether they’ll be editable as layers in “big” Photoshop).
I’m reminded of really promising Photoshop Elements mobile concepts from 2011 that went nowhere; of the Fabby app some of my teammates created before being acquired by Google; and of all I failed to enable in Google Photos. “Poo-tee-weet?” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, I’m eager to take it for a spin.
[YouTube]
Joanna Stern enlists a mechanical steed to test the new AirPods’ Pro ability to stay in ears against that of competitors (the O.G. AirPods plus Samsung & Amazon rivals).
“We are, by nature, explorers…” You tell ’em, Dr. Hawking:
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The $549 price tag is no joke, but for serious creators I can imagine this little guy being a delight to use:
[YouTube]
Placing this ML-driven tech atop the set of now-vintage (!) Quick Selection & Magic Wand tools should help get it discovered, and the ability to smartly add & subtract chunks of an image looks really promising. I can’t wait to put it to the test.
[YouTube]
Mark Coleran is a mograph O.G., about whose “Fantasy User Interface” (“FUI”) work for movies I used to write about a lot back at Adobe. It was fun listening to him & other designers share a peek into this unique genre of visual storytelling via Adobe’s great Wireframe podcast. I think you’ll enjoy it:
