Facial capture, avatar

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2015/11/another-rumor-claims-to-confirm-apples-acquisition-of-faceshift.html

In the video below Faceshift's Brian Amberg (CTO) and Nico Scapel (Creative Director) talk about face tracking to bring virtual characters to life, using Intel's RealSense depth camera. We first reported on this story that claimed that Apple may have possibly acquired this Swiss start-up back in September. Late yesterday, TechCrunch claims that they've been able to confirm that Apple has indeed acquired the company. 

The video is co-sponsored by Intel to promote their new RealSense 3D depth camera. Yesterday Apple was granted yet another 3D Depth camera patent. In that report we pointed to several inventions Apple now owns that stemmed from their acquisition of Israeli firm PrimeSense. Many of the patents extend a 3D depth camera to future iDevices. At this time it's unknown if Apple will adopt Intel's RealSense 3D depth cameras in the future or introduce their own based on their patented technology. Apple's string of granted patents and other patent-pending inventions would strongly suggest the latter. Apple also has an advanced 3D avatar app in the wings that could be tied to a future iDevice or Mac integrated with a 3D depth camera. 

While TechCrunch makes the claim that some Faceshift employees now work for Apple in Europe, Apple will not confirm the acquisition rumor. Could they simply be ex-Faceshift employees? Yet somehow Apple's denial is seen by TechCrunch as proof that they indeed acquired the young start-up. While it continues to sound interesting and likely that Apple may have indeed acquired the company, it's still unclear if they actually did. TechCrunch's report didn't quite prove their claim with a noncommittal comment by Apple.