When ooVoo tapped Real Art to help them launch their Intelligent Video platform at CES 2015, we knew attendees would want to try it for themselves. Intelligent Video extracts the information contained in live video to read and respond to users in real time. In order to demonstrate the incredible capabilities of this next-generation technology, we featured four engaging demos, each using Intelligent Video in a unique way.

Thanks to the remarkable strategic vision and collaborative skill of Spitfire Technologies, we were able to incorporate the tools of Affectiva, FaceShift, and Intel into these four demo applications, showing other companies the potential of integrating Intelligent Video with their own forward-facing technologies.

Flinch

Spitfire’s Flinch app was launched just a few months ago. Flinch integrates ooVoo’s video chat capability with Affectiva’s emotion-sensing technology and analytics to create a new kind of game. Two players stare at each other over a video call and try to make each other smile. The app interprets the players’ emotions to judge who cracked a grin first. Anyone can download the Flinch iOS app, so we gave CES attendees a peek under the hood. A tablet at the Flinch station invited users to “Step right up” and give it a try. But instead of engaging in a staring contest, users could see the real-time emotion metrics of their own live video, watching their level of smile, brow raise, brow furrow, lip depressor, engagement, and mood.

Avatar Chat

For years, Hollywood studios have used 3D motion tracking to create lifelike animations. But we wanted to use Intelligent Video to bring it into the real world. Avatar Chat is a responsive augmentation mapping your expressions onto a virtual avatar during real-time video communication. Using a plug-in designed for 3D game development, we were able integrate FaceShift’s expression-mapping software with a live demo. At CES, a PrimeSense depth camera mounted beneath the monitor enabled attendees to try it out, transforming their faces into their own virtual avatar. They’d step close to the screen and watch as their expressions were embodied by a pug, orc, or other character.

3D Background Replacement

Traditional video technology doesn’t distinguish between people and their environment. 3D Background Replacement analyzes the dimensional space of a video in real-time, letting the user enhance or change the background. At CES, we were able to borrow a pre-release model of Intel’s latest and greatest RealSense camera. This best-in-class depth sensor enabled us to create a sort of “digital green screen” ready to transport users wherever their hearts desired. The RealSense knew when a visitor approached the monitor and would then initiate a simulated video call. The playful video backgrounds surprised and delighted everyone who tried it for themselves.

Smart Messaging

Everyone’s used autocomplete for text-based chatting or finding search results; we wanted to soup it up with Intelligent Video, creating a more exciting, emotion-inflected experience. Grown from Affectiva’s emotion sensing technology, Smart Messaging takes cues from your emotion metrics to make useful inferences and suggestions in your texts and video chats. If you are video chatting with a sad friend, you might be prompted to send a silly cartoon or sticker. A camera mounted at the Smart Messaging station analyzed the expressions of CES visitors, sending them a heart-warming message if they were feeling blue, or amplifying their excitement with a celebratory animation.

These four demos helped to illustrate just a fraction of the potential ooVoo’s Intelligent Video has in store. To learn the latest in this cutting-edge capability, stay tuned with Spitfire Technologies.