ModiFace unveils live video-based hair color simulation

TORONTO — With the launch of Apple’s iOS 11 coming in the next couple weeks, augmented reality technology company ModiFace is debuting a new way for hair color brands to let customers test out potential looks. Once iOS 11 launches, ModiFace’s Hair Color app will feature a live video-based hair tracking and color simulation feature.

“We are extremely excited to offer live hair coloration and style alteration to our brand partners,” ModiFace CEO Parham Aarabi said. “The accuracy and realism of this new technology will forever change how hair color is tried on, explored, and purchased by consumers. We expect the first brands to leverage this technology to launch within the next few months.”

The new technology uses some of the latest machine learning features within iOS 11, as well as a set of collaborative neural networks that detect hair in each video fram to adjust hair coloration in a photorealistic way, ModiFace said. This network was trained on some 220,000 annotated hair images.

“We have been working on deep learning architectures for a long time now, and recently advances in both the neural network architectures, basic hardware level optimizations, as well as the availability of significant training data, have made photo-realistic video hair tracking and coloration possible,” Aarabi said.