"Face the face, got to face the face"

December 12, 2005 12:04 AM

An awkward resemblance to a certain eigenface might get you pulled aside in Las Vegas. Prof. Hilbert is probably spinning in his grave.
posted by Rothko (24 comments total)

If the eigenfaces shown in the wikipedia article are anything to go by, then anyone who actually looks just like *one* of these faces needs to be pulled over and analysed so that we may learn more of their distant planet.
posted by atrazine at 12:26 AM on December 12, 2005

Heh, eigenface...

It thinks Tom Baker is Anthony Hopkins (65%)... I dunno...
posted by Chuckles at 12:34 AM on December 12, 2005

Audrey Tautou is in their database, so I tried a few of her...

1. Audrey Tautou - correct 73%,
2. Audrey Tautou - Ayn Rand 71%
3. Audrey Tautou - Isabella Rossellini 73%
4. Audrey Tautou - correct 72%
5. Audrey Tautou - correct 73%

Of course the correct matches were against three different images in their database and for that last one Courtney Cox and Alyson Hannigan both scored 72% (there were three more >=70%).

I wonder what factors are considered the biggest technical limitations. Processing power? Photography, like lighting conditions? Obviously the angle the picture is taken at is a huge problem...
posted by Chuckles at 1:13 AM on December 12, 2005

Think of all those poor hard-partying folks who won't be able to use the ATM on Sunday morning. It will ruin the brunch industry.
posted by StickyCarpet at 1:26 AM on December 12, 2005

People have told me Keifer Sutherland and Matt Damon, but I guess I look like Frank Oz, John Cage, and Ingmar Bergman. And some other old people.

{sigh}
posted by zardoz at 1:36 AM on December 12, 2005

Strange, I'd say the second picture (aka Ms. Ayn Rand) reflects my image of Audrey Tautou the most.

Also, I'm not entirely sure what the Australian department of defense is doing with a poster image from Dirty Pretty Things on its website (check the URL of the third image).
posted by chrominance at 2:02 AM on December 12, 2005

Well apparently, I look like Bruce Springsteen. Can't quite see it, myself.
posted by salmacis at 2:18 AM on December 12, 2005

Hmm, I look like Jackie Kennedy. Sweet.
posted by vbfg at 2:37 AM on December 12, 2005

It says I look like....

Pierre De Coubertin?!
posted by TwelveTwo at 3:09 AM on December 12, 2005

> Hmm, I look like Jackie Kennedy.

It's the spatters of blood and brain tissue.
posted by pracowity at 3:11 AM on December 12, 2005

I am, quite clearly, a dead ringer for Grace Kelly
posted by Simon! at 3:55 AM on December 12, 2005

Eigenfaces are quite sensitive to the alignment of the image, as well as changes in viewpoint and lighting. The example eigenfaces in the wikipedia article seem all to be related to shading, and would probably be of little use in face recognition. The "demo" in the first link is quite useless for anything serious.

FaceIT does not use eigenfaces and is mostly landmark-based.
(I am quite heavily biased towards landmark-based face recognition methods because of my thesis work)
posted by ikalliom at 4:28 AM on December 12, 2005

...first pass I match with Jonas Salk; with another picture I match with Guy Pearce. I could do this all day but I'd probably lose my job.
posted by nj_subgenius at 5:02 AM on December 12, 2005

Aung San Suu Kyi (67%)
John Cusack (61%)
...and, God help us all, Alec Baldwin (56%.)

I even matched better-than-50% with Barack Obama.

For reference, this is me.
posted by enrevanche at 5:04 AM on December 12, 2005

enrevanche: "For reference, this is me."

Oh yeah. Barack Obama.
posted by Plutor at 5:12 AM on December 12, 2005

Buster Keaton 60%?
posted by moonbird at 5:24 AM on December 12, 2005

The site is "undergoing maintenenance" right now, but I did this a while ago (probably on the same site), and it thinks I look like Cate Blanchett. It was surprisingly flattering, actually, even though they matched me with a not so good picture of Cate Blanchett.
posted by easternblot at 7:40 AM on December 12, 2005

Also, I'm not entirely sure what the Australian department of defense is doing with a poster image from Dirty Pretty Things on its website (check the URL of the third image).

A bit boring. Movie reviews from the soldiers' newspaper.
posted by smackfu at 9:41 AM on December 12, 2005

Now their site has records on all of you (well, those who greedy bastards who wedged their way in all at once and brought the site down).
posted by Eideteker at 10:13 AM on December 12, 2005

Eigenfaces are one of nearly a dozen methods that show promise in reasonably accurate recognition of individuals, and are one of about 3-4 methods employed in Vegas for our casinos' famous 'blacklist'. I've seen some of these systems in play, and combining the technologies produces eerily strong positive recognition. Still, DHS hasn't picked it up yet, nor did any of its predecessors.

That said, almost all of the facial recognition systems have two flaws: an inability to properly compensate for even some minor differences in facial hair on the same subject, and the 'normalization' of the faces prior to analysis that distorts sometimes prominent features. Some people escape the system by growing a 1-week goatee. Others get wrongly caught because they have a face that when 'normalized' makes them look more similar to people that are of entirely different races.
posted by mystyk at 10:42 AM on December 12, 2005

Umm, for clarity (as I look back on it) the second paragraph of my prior comment is the main stated reason why casinos employ several methods simultaneously. It reduces the error. Also, the last method used is usually a guy on the casino floor sent to compare the individual to a high-res photo for a final determination.

BTW, [this is good]. Thanks, Alex.
posted by mystyk at 10:49 AM on December 12, 2005

Wow, it is very sensitive to alignment - I put in a shot of my right side at about 30 degrees from face-on, and I matched about 70% with, um, Rudolph Valentino, Annette Benning, Audrey Tatou, J-Lo and basically everyone who was in a similar pose.

That, or I actually have an eigenface.

Fun post, ta Rothko...
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:58 PM on December 12, 2005

Monica Seles, Kim Basinger, Muhammad Ali, and Meat Loaf from the same photo?
posted by Eideteker at 12:34 AM on December 13, 2005

Johnny Depp or Bruce Willis....wha? I have a few features similar to both those guys, but they look nothing like each other. And who the hell is Heinrich Boll? He's got squirrel cheeks and I don't. Maybe it's the beard. I dunno.
posted by Smedleyman at 4:43 AM on December 13, 2005