Using youself in emoticons

Technology is being developed that will allow you to use your own face with appropriate emotions to convey your feelings in chat or in mail.  Maybe even in your blogs and articles.  There is an article in NewScientistTech that describes a laboratory system. (Thanks Innovation Weekly for bringing this to my attention). As pointed out in this article:  

  

Software that contorts an image of a person’s face to express different emotions could enrich text-based internet chat.

The researchers behind the system say it can quickly transform a user’s face to convey any of six emotions, ranging from anger to happiness.

A user first uploads a picture of their face with a “neutral” expression. Then they use their mouse to mark the ends of their eyebrows, the corners of their mouth and the edges of their eyes and lips.

Last week I saw a commercial system that could do the same things that will be soon marketed by XiDtech of Singapore.  (Disclosure:  I am advisor to XiDtech.)  The system from XiDtech will allow you to use emoticons using anybody’s face and even in videos. 

Such technology is progressing fast and may have interesting applications.