The obsession with stopping the passage of time is losing ground in the digital world, thanks to increasingly robust and intelligent tools. We're approaching an era where any actor or actress can be eternally young on screen, and excellent proof of that is the work of Rousselos Aravantinos, who with the help of NUKE and mocha Pro erased decades from this woman's face.
It's likely our readers remember the 'smoothing' applied to Bruce Willis in Surrogates and Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy. The result wasn't perfect, but those responsible definitely managed to remove several years from both actors. Recently we explored the potential of digital actors, and the possibility of seeing deceased celebrities return as they worked in their youth. Of course, there are still many ethical and intellectual property details to resolve, but technology advances by leaps and bounds, and another fundamental aspect is that it keeps dropping in cost. Although there will always be a privileged place for the 'hi-end' systems used by blockbusters, today it's possible to sit in front of a computer and eliminate years from a person as if it were magic.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/mN3oZh8kdBkThe Art of Digital De-Aging
That's what VFX artist Rousselos Aravantinos did with a combination of NUKE and mocha Pro. The lady in the video is actress Michele Valley, whose real age I unfortunately couldn't find out, but I think I'm not exaggerating to say that Aravantinos erased thirty years from her face, hair, and hands in one stroke. The most curious thing is that Aravantinos considers himself a junior in NUKE, and he also didn't use any facial markers to make the process more difficult. As if that weren't enough, the camera used for the video capture is a simple Nikon 1 V1 with a 10-megapixel sensor, a product the company already considers 'archived'.
The video originally appeared on Vimeo, but Aravantinos had the courtesy to publish a copy on YouTube. I'm sure a trained eye will detect a certain artificial profile in the young version of Valley, however, this is just the tip of the iceberg. With advances in skin and digital hair, combined with the extraordinary processing power of today's platforms, one of these days we won't notice the difference.
Rousselos Aravantinos on Vimeo.
