Deep Nostalgia™ to Animate Your Family Photos

MyHeritage
10 Feb 202226:50

TLDRIn this video, Tal Erlichman, a Director of Product Management at MyHeritage, introduces the 'Deep Nostalgia' feature. He explains how this technology animates faces in old family photos, bringing them to life with realistic movements. The feature uses deep learning technology from D-ID and integrates with MyHeritage's photo enhancer. Tal also highlights previous photo features such as colorization, photo enhancement, and color restoration, emphasizing their impact on users. He concludes with a live demo, showing how to animate photos and inviting viewers to try it out and share their experiences.

Takeaways

  • 😀 Tal, a Director of Product Management at MyHeritage, discusses their genealogy product offerings.
  • 📜 MyHeritage's core genealogy product includes family tree matching technologies and a historical records search engine with over 13 billion records.
  • 📸 MyHeritage has significantly developed photo features including enhancing old photos and colorizing them.
  • 🎨 MyHeritage launched three photo features: colorization of black and white photos, a photo enhancer to improve blurry photos, and color restoration for faded photos.
  • 📈 Since their launch, MyHeritage's colorization and photo enhancer features have been used over 31 million times.
  • 🔍 Deep Nostalgia™ is a new feature that animates faces in family photos, allowing users to see their ancestors move.
  • 🖥️ Deep Nostalgia™ uses licensed deep learning technology from D-ID to create realistic video animations from still photos.
  • 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 The feature requires high-resolution faces and works best when combined with MyHeritage's photo enhancer for optimal results.
  • 📽️ The animation sequences are created using driver videos, which are fixed sequences of movements and gestures.
  • 👀 Deep Nostalgia™ can be used on both black and white and color photos, enhancing the connection with family history.
  • 🚫 MyHeritage includes ethical markers on animated photos to distinguish them from originals and avoid misuse.
  • 🌐 Users can access the Deep Nostalgia™ feature on the MyHeritage website, with certain limitations for non-subscribers.

Q & A

  • What is Tal's role at MyHeritage?

    -Tal is a director of product management at MyHeritage, responsible for the core genealogy product, including the family tree, matching technologies, and the historical records search engine.

  • What features did MyHeritage launch in the past year related to photos?

    -MyHeritage launched three photo features: colorization of black and white photos, photo enhancer to improve the resolution of blurry photos, and color restoration for faded color photos.

  • What technology is used for the colorization feature?

    -The colorization feature uses deep learning technology licensed by MyHeritage from DeOldify.

  • How does the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer improve photo quality?

    -The MyHeritage Photo Enhancer uses deep learning algorithms to upscale the resolution of photos by four times, sharpening faces and objects to improve the level of detail.

  • What is the Deep Nostalgia feature?

    -The Deep Nostalgia feature allows users to animate faces in their family photos, creating realistic video footage from still images using technology licensed from D-ID, an Israeli startup.

  • How does Deep Nostalgia ensure high-quality animations?

    -Deep Nostalgia combines the photo enhancer feature to improve the resolution and sharpen faces before applying animation, ensuring high-quality video animations for historical photos.

  • Can all faces in a photo be animated at once using Deep Nostalgia?

    -No, in the current version, faces in a photo cannot all be animated at the same time. Each face is animated separately.

  • What are driver videos, and how are they used in Deep Nostalgia?

    -Driver videos are fixed sequences of movements and gestures used to animate faces in still photos. Deep Nostalgia applies one of these driver videos to a face to create the animation.

  • What ethical considerations does MyHeritage take with animated photos?

    -MyHeritage adds motion and enhancement icons to animated photos to differentiate them from original photos, ensuring users understand that these are simulated videos created using deep learning.

  • How can users access and use the Deep Nostalgia feature?

    -Users can access Deep Nostalgia by logging into MyHeritage, navigating to the 'My Photos' section, and using the animate button on selected photos. Non-subscribers can animate several photos for free, while complete subscribers can animate an unlimited number without watermarks.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Introduction to MyHeritage Photo Features

Tal, the Director of Product Management at MyHeritage, introduces the MyHeritage core genealogy product, which includes a family tree, matching technologies, and a historical records search engine with over 13 billion records. The talk focuses on new features in the 'World of Photos' at MyHeritage, including colorization of black and white photos, photo enhancer for improving resolution, and color restoration for faded photos. Over 31 million uses of these features have been recorded, showcasing their popularity among users.

05:01

🎨 Enhancements and Restorations in MyHeritage Photos

The script delves into the specifics of MyHeritage's photo features, explaining how the colorization feature uses deep learning technology licensed from Oldify to add color to black and white photos. It details the process of color restoration for faded photos, ideal for older color photos that have lost vibrancy over time. The photo enhancer is also discussed, which uses deep learning algorithms to upscale photo resolution and sharpen images, with examples provided to illustrate the effectiveness of these features.

10:02

🤖 Deep Nostalgia: Animating Historical Faces

The introduction of the 'Deep Nostalgia' feature is highlighted, which allows users to animate faces in family photos using technology licensed from an Israeli startup specializing in video reenactment. The feature requires high-resolution faces and combines with the photo enhancer to ensure optimal animation results. The script explains the use of 'drivers'—videos of fixed movements—that are applied to still photos to create realistic animations, and notes that the feature does not include speech to prevent misuse.

15:03

📹 Live Demonstration of Deep Nostalgia on MyHeritage Platform

A live demonstration is provided to show how the Deep Nostalgia feature can be accessed and used within the MyHeritage platform. The process involves selecting a photo, enhancing it for better resolution, choosing a face to animate, and then selecting an animation sequence. The demonstration showcases how users can download and share the animated videos, as well as choose different driver videos for customization.

20:04

🖼️ Animating Colorized and Enhanced Photos

The script explains that users can animate photos that have already been colorized and enhanced on MyHeritage, creating colorized animation videos. It emphasizes the user's ability to select different driver videos for various animation effects and the option to revisit and play animations for individual portraits. The importance of distinguishing animated photos from originals through special icons is also highlighted to maintain ethical standards.

25:07

📌 Conclusion and Invitation to Try Deep Nostalgia

The final paragraph concludes the presentation by inviting users to try the Deep Nostalgia feature for free on the MyHeritage website, with the option for complete subscribers to animate an unlimited number of photos without a watermark. The speaker shares a personal email for feedback and encourages sharing the created animations on social media, expressing enthusiasm for the feature and the session.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Deep Nostalgia™

Deep Nostalgia™ is a feature by MyHeritage that animates the faces in your family photos. This technology brings old photos to life by creating realistic video animations of facial expressions and movements, giving users a unique way to experience their family history.

💡photo colorization

Photo colorization is the process of adding color to black and white photos using deep learning technology. MyHeritage offers a feature that automatically colorizes old family photos, allowing users to see their ancestors in a new light.

💡photo enhancement

Photo enhancement involves improving the resolution and clarity of blurry photos. MyHeritage provides a tool that enhances old photos by sharpening faces and objects, making details more noticeable and preserving the quality of historical images.

💡color restoration

Color restoration is a feature that revives the authentic colors in faded photos. This is particularly useful for photos from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, whose colors have faded over time due to factors like UV light exposure.

💡MyHeritage

MyHeritage is a genealogy and family history platform that offers various tools and features for exploring family trees, historical records, and enhancing photos. It provides users with innovative ways to connect with their ancestry through technologies like photo colorization, enhancement, and animation.

💡driver video

A driver video is a pre-recorded sequence of movements and gestures used to animate a face in a still photo. MyHeritage's Deep Nostalgia™ feature applies these driver videos to historical photos to create realistic animations of facial expressions.

💡genealogy

Genealogy is the study of family history and lineage. MyHeritage focuses on helping users build and explore their family trees, providing access to historical records and advanced tools for discovering and preserving family heritage.

💡deep learning

Deep learning is a subset of artificial intelligence that uses neural networks to analyze and generate data. MyHeritage utilizes deep learning technologies for features like photo colorization, enhancement, and animation to provide accurate and realistic results.

💡video reenactment

Video reenactment refers to the process of creating animations or videos based on still photos. MyHeritage's Deep Nostalgia™ feature uses video reenactment technology to animate the faces in historical photos, making them appear as if they are moving and alive.

💡ethical responsibility

Ethical responsibility involves ensuring that technologies are used in a way that is respectful and considerate of privacy and authenticity. MyHeritage marks all animated photos with icons to differentiate them from original photos and prevent misuse, such as creating deep fake videos of living people.

Highlights

Introduction by Tal, Director of Product Management at MyHeritage.

Overview of MyHeritage's genealogy product, including family tree and matching technologies.

Introduction of the Deep Nostalgia feature to animate family photos.

Recap of MyHeritage photo features: colorization, photo enhancer, and color restoration.

More than 31 million uses of MyHeritage photo features since launch.

Details on MyHeritage in Color, launched in February 2020, for colorizing black and white photos.

Introduction of color restoration for reviving faded colors in photos from the 60s to the 90s.

Explanation of photo enhancement using deep learning algorithms to improve photo resolution.

Example of photo enhancer improving the visibility of faces in historical photos.

Personal story about Tal's grandmother's photo being enhanced and colorized.

Introduction to Deep Nostalgia, which animates faces in photos using technology licensed from D-ID.

Combination of photo enhancer with Deep Nostalgia to create high-quality animations.

Explanation of drivers and how they create animation sequences from still photos.

Demonstration of how to use the Deep Nostalgia feature on the MyHeritage platform.

Ethical considerations and marking animated photos with icons to differentiate them from originals.

Invitation to create and share animated photos using Deep Nostalgia, with options for free and subscription users.