On Friday, the acquisition of Israeli gesture recognition company PrimeSense Ltd. by Apple Inc. PrimeSense previously denied any talks with Apple.

As noted earlier this year, the deal will cost Apple somewhere between $300-350 million. It’s unknown what Apple’s future plans entail, however, they could theoretically involve real-time chat animations during FaceTime sessions, biometric (facial recognition) hardware security, or even new user interface designs for desktop and mobile operating systems.Globes reports that Apple has completed its purchase of PrimeSense, the Israel-based firm behind the technology in Microsoft’s Kinect sensor, and Apple confirmed the acquisition to AllThingsD. Face-based image sorting within the company’s recently revamped Photos application, for instance, is about the breadth of how far Apple has implemented the tool. CommentĮven despite the company’s keen interest in the technology, itself, Apple has, to date, only dealt within the parameters of consumer product offerings. PrimeSense also holds multiple patents in a broad range of technologies. Additionally, in 2013, Apple acquired the Israeli company, PrimeSense, a firm that had been a major contributor to Microsoft’s Kinect hardware and software project for Xbox. At one point in time, consumer interactions of Faceshift studio were in development for use with Skype, however it appears that project has since been shelved.Īpple continues to enhance its portfolio of facial recognition technologies with the company’s acquisition of Faceshift one of the first being the Sweden-based company, Polar Rose, in early 2010. The technology, in part, has been most notably used to map human-like gestures onto the faces of certain characters, for example, as part of the new “Star Wars” film.įaceshift’s main claim to fame is a product known as “Faceshift Studio,” a software protocol that incorporates the firm’s facial recognition software with support for Maya and Unity - a consortium of software-based, real-time imaging and file sharing tools.

Effectively capable of real-time processing, the firm’s platform utilizes 3D sensors and cameras to subvert the need for traditional motion capture protocols. Prior to being acquired by Apple, Faceshift had developed a rather powerful facial recognition software that was the backbone of advanced motion capture technology.

Xbox 360 kinect faceshift