Face filters are all the rage nowadays. I am referring to the function in photo and video apps (like snapchat), where a filter is superimposed over the subject’s face in realtime. There are a ton of such face filters ranging from scary to cute. The ones which add ‘nose and ears’ of cute animals (puppy, kitten, rabbit, etc) are famous with kids.
This seemed very interesting, so I decided to make one myself. I have been learning python, so I thought of making one in python only. After a bit of studying, I was able to make it using openCV (an awesome python library for computer vision).
I named my face filter iMustacheU. So… I must ask you to iMustacheU … lol. I know it is a very bad joke, but I had to tell it.
Anyhow, while studying about this I learned about matrices operations (using numpy). That reminded me of something about my school/college days. It reminded me about my mathematics classes.
During those classes, we never understood why we are studying those advanced topics ( matrices operations, integration, differentiation ). We would always discuss among friends that these topics were of no use, and we would never ever see them being used in real life. The emphasis was on the words ‘not seeing’ as in we will never be involved in anything which will visually demonstrate the use of these. We guessed that these things are for scientists doing advanced research. The worst part, at least in my case, was that when we asked our teachers the real life use of these topics, even our teachers were not able to tell us anything. We were told to just study them, and not to bother asking these silly questions (rote was encouraged just to get high marks). Such incidents were left buried in our impressionable minds.
While making this face filter, I had to work with matrices. As soon as I did matrices operations, and could see real time effect of those operations on my screen, all those buried memories came rushing back. I was happy to actually see those mathematics topics working in front of my eyes, and felt bad that no one during school/college could tell any similar example.
Now, keep in mind that I am not trying to diss my math teachers, nor am I trying to diss rote learning. What I am saying is that it would have been great if my education included some practical aspects in addition to rote.
This face filter is not some scientific research, it is not solving any big world problem, its just a little fun project, but it still gave me pleasure, it still gave me closure.