The genealogy platform MyHeritage developed an online tool that can animate photos and create a realistic representation of how a person would have smiled, blinked, or shook their head, as if it were a video.
The Deep Nostalgia feature uses ‘deepfake’ technology, which allows you to edit fake videos by replacing one person’s face with another. It includes a series of ready-made videos, in each of which a fixed sequence of movements and gestures were captured. When someone uploads a photo for processing, the system chooses a video and integrates it with the image.
“You’ll have a ‘wow moment’ when you see a beautiful family photo come to life with Deep Nostalgia,” said Gilad Japhet, founder and CEO of MyHeritage, speaking to USA Today. “Seeing the faces of our beloved ancestors come to life in a video simulation, allows us to imagine what they might have been like in reality and provides a profound new way to connect with our family history,” he said.
With our new Deep Nostalgia™, you can see how a person from an old photo could have moved and looked if they were captured on video! Read more: https://t.co/ZwUwzJRQ26 #RootsTech #RootsTechConnect pic.twitter.com/LERXhrqiut
— MyHeritage (@MyHeritage) February 25, 2021
It makes us feel as if they’re right in front of us! Try out out our new photo animation feature, announced at #RootsTech — Deep Nostalgia™! https://t.co/IeTuf2xbar pic.twitter.com/ypdsdfa5RM
— MyHeritage (@MyHeritage) February 26, 2021
Users can animate up to five photos for free. The program is also capable of animating multiple faces in a photo, but not all at the same time. Check it out here.
