Categories: Technology

Ground-breaking system for quickly rendering synthetic objects into legacy photographs

A group of students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated a ground-breaking system that allows a user realistically insert synthetic objects into legacy photographs quickly and easily.

The system requires that the user first annotate an image, pointing out light sources and object boundaries using software-based tools. Once an image in annotated, the system accurately renders synthetic objects placed ‘into’ the photograph, accounting for lighting, shading, reflection, illumination and other individual object properties like transparency, diffuse or specular.

The system has obvious applications in the movie and gaming industry, as well as interior design and user content creation. The video below speaks for itself,

Albizu Garcia

Albizu Garcia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gain -- a marketing technology company that automates the social media and content publishing workflow for agencies and social media managers, their clients and anyone working in teams.

View Comments

  • very cool! I am assuming the objects would be modeled in a different program and inserted? how are theh new materials scaled/degenerated to match the original image quality? I am interested to follow the development of this program and see the far reaching effects that it can and will have.

  • very cool! I am assuming the objects would be modeled in a different program and inserted? how are theh new materials scaled/degenerated to match the original image quality? I am interested to follow the development of this program and see the far reaching effects that it can and will have.

Recent Posts

The UK’s push to be a relevant global hub for space technology

Despite lagging behind global space powers like the United States, Russia and China, the United…

4 days ago

US spy community is creating a portal to buy, access your personal data

The Intelligence Community is setting up a one-stop shop, icdata.gov, to buy access to your…

6 days ago

The gaming startup market in Mexico: Opportunities and challenges

The vibrant world of tech startups has found a space carved out for growth and…

6 days ago

As data center demand drives uptick in demand for electricity, AEP and Think Power Solutions focus on AI-enabled utility infrastructure 

Despite the recent volatility seen in the markets, American Electric Power (AEP), one of the…

6 days ago

Building a competitive edge with cloud-native MFTs

The ever-present threat of cybercrime is expected to come with an eye-watering price tag of…

6 days ago

Stefanini Group Accelerates Cloud Expansion with 60% Stake in Escala 24×7, AWS Premier Partner in LATAM

Latin America's cloud adoption is surging. According to recent reports by Gartner and IDC, by…

1 week ago