Search for photographs BY SHAPE

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

http://www.taranfx.com/blog/photosketch-draw-sketch-get-real-images-awesome

All you have to do is draw a rough sketch with labels, it will try to replace those with images from the Internet with the closest match using Sophisticated Image-recognition algorithms.
[...]
PhotoSketch is an internet-based Cloud application that can take the rough, labeled sketch on the left and magically turn it into the REAL on the right.
[...]
The basic how-it-works, is presented in a research paper [pdf]. Here is the summary:

    Step 1. Draw the outlines of the figures you want in your picture – anything from seagulls to a Mercedes, whatever tickles your fancy,

    Step 2. Add labels for each of the items, as well as for the background.

    Step 3. PhotoSketch will then find real-life images to match your doodles and put them together in a Photoshopped image that will make your jaw drop.

PhotoSketch's blending algorithm analyzes each of these images, compares them with each other, and decides which are better for the blending process. It automatically traces and places them into a single photograph, matching the scene, and adding shadows. Of course, the results are less than perfect, but they are good enough:

Edited to remove marketroidspeak.

[Captain Utopia]

Neat. Can't wait to see how this will be abused! (Obama + Hitler + Dildo) == Far Right Wankathon

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Have you tried Tineye? It's a pretty cool concept, but it never really seems to have taken off.

[Captain Utopia]

Have you tried Tineye? It's a pretty cool concept, but it never really seems to have taken off.

Neat! It had a pretty high success rate on the images I tested it with.

[Dalek]

FUCKERS STOLE MY IDEA  Well I guess they didn't really steal my idea, but god damn it I had a very simular idea a year ago.

[Cramulus]

Is this real? The linked site doesn't seem to work, and the article contains this hoax-implying text:

I tired this yesterday and it was like one of the most innovative technologies i`ve seen in my life. If you want to try this out, you’ll probably have to wait. It became so popular within hours of the release that the load on their servers has taken their site down. LINK

yes it's so great
no you can't see it
just tell everybody about it
here's a video and some images you can use in your blog post



googling the URL reveals many pages of people complaining about a 404

[Captain Utopia]

Looks like it's real:
  http://www.siggraph.org/asia2009/for_attendees/technical_papers/details/?type=techpapers&id=50

Else, they're hoaxing siggraph, and that is extremely unlikely.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

Let's hope they kept whatever bouncers they used on Mister Munroe.

[Cramulus]

anybody have luck actually using the aforementioned program?

the link again: http://cg.cs.tsinghua.edu.cn:8080/cmm/?page_id=155



The paper about the tech is fairly convincing. My Hoax-Alarm has subsided a little bit, but until anybody has actually used the program, I'm still skeptical that it actually exists and does what it says it does.

[Captain Utopia]

Assuming that it requires the source imagery to be properly tagged/classified then the work presented does not look to be that radical. It's not like you could just turn it loose on the internet and have it automatically recognise new items on its own.

In terms of WOMP, say you have a bunch of potential Roger heads, and a body you want to stick one of them upon - then this program will find a head which matches the direction you want him to be looking, and will blend the backgrounds a little to make the stitching less obvious.

I only skimmed through the paper but it doesn't seem to be doing anything more novel than that, though some of the techniques they use are interesting.