The New York Times reports on a software “beautification engine” that can alter the facial geometry of people in photos and, in theory, make them look more attractive.
Developed by researchers in Israel (including a guy who now works at Microsoft), it uses algorithms based on 243 measurements between facial features and tries to determine the ideal set of distances.
The formula was developed by surveying 68 men and women in Israel and Germany who were shown photos of white men and women, and asked to pick the most attractive faces. Consequently, the process only works on Caucasian faces so far.
The researchers go into further detail in this video:
For yet more details, see the paper on this project (PDF) submitted for Siggraph 2008.
Although Gizmodo’s Wilson Rothman disses the beautification engine as a program that “turns cultural bias into pretty pictures,” the Times writeup notes that cultural factors play less of a role in defining beauty than one might think:
Studies have shown that there is surprising agreement about what makes a face attractive. Symmetry is at the core, along with youthfulness; clarity or smoothness of skin; and vivid color, say, in the eyes and hair. There is little dissent among people of different cultures, ethnicities, races, ages and gender.
Yet, like the many other attempts to use objective principles or even mathematical formulas to define beauty, this software program raises what psychologists, philosophers and feminists say are complex, even disturbing, questions about the perception of beauty and a beauty ideal.
To what extent is beauty quantifiable? Does a supposedly scientific definition merely reflect the ideal of the moment, built from the images of pop culture and the news media?