Deep Nostalgia™ launched by MyHeritage

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25 February 2021
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Deep Nostalgia™ , a new tool from MyHeritage animates the faces in still photos, providing a depiction of how a person could have moved and looked if they were captured on video.

The launch was announced at RootsTech Connect, the global family history conference that runs from 24-27 February. Visit the Family Tree booth at RootsTech Connect.

How does it work?

The technology for animating the faces in photos was licensed by MyHeritage from D-ID, a company that specializes in video reenactment using deep learning. Deep Nostalgia™ uses several pre-recorded driver videos, which direct the movements in the animation and consist of sequences of real human gestures.

A preferred driver is automatically selected for each face based on its orientation, and then applied to the photo. The result is a short, high-quality video animation of an individual face that can smile, blink, and move.

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To achieve optimal results, the photos are enhanced prior to animation using the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer, which brings blurry and low-resolution faces into focus and increases their resolution.

A new way of connecting to our family history

Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage, said: 'You'll have a 'wow moment' when yo see a treasured family photo come to life with Deep Nostalgia™.  Seeing our beloved ancestors’ faces come to life in a video simulation lets us imagine how they might have been in reality, and provides a profound new way of connecting to our family history."

Try out Deep Nostalgia™ on the MyHeritage website