ahlam1399
08-05-2016, 02:55 PM
Back in September, MacRumors uncovered evidence (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/04/faceshift-motion-capture-acquired/) that Apple had acquired Zurich-based real-time capture firm Faceshift, a move that Apple later confirmed (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/24/apple-faceshift-acquisition-confirmed/).
Before the acquisition, Faceshift worked closely with game and animation studios on tech**logy designed to quickly and accurately capture facial expressions using 3D sensors.
One of the lesser k**wn aspects of Faceshift's business was licensing out its face tracking SDK to other companies, one of which was Xcessity (http://www.xcessity.at), a small Austrian firm that specializes in designing human-computer interaction software to improve accessibility.
http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2016/08/xcessity.jpg
One of the most popular products made by the firm is the KinesicMouse (http://kinesicmouse.xcessity.at/index.php), which enables disabled people and those with degenerative conditions like Parkinson's disease to control a mouse through facial expressions. The functionality of the KinesicMouse software ?*which is also used in hospital settings ? depended heavily on the SDK developed by Faceshift, which received a royalty fee for every purchased license.
Earlier this week, Xcessity CEO Markus Pr"oll revealed in a tweet (https://twitter.com/xcessity/status/759992376165367808) and a post (http://forums.xcessity.at/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1078) on the Xcessity forum that Faceshift had revoked the license following Apple's acquisition of the company, and that he would ** longer be able to develop or offer the software:
The Faceshift SDK is the result of a research team that focused on this topic for several years at the university ETH Zürich. Whilst it would **t be impossible to create such a software it would take way too much time and resources. Believe me after about four years of development I have tried about everything.
I don't k**w who or why the decision was made to cancel the existing license agreement. I want to explicitly mention that I don't make any claims that Apple or Faceshift is responsible for the cancellation. On this part I am left in the dark just as you are. All I can tell is that the guys from Faceshift have been very supportive through all those years.The news came as a blow to users of the software, and Pr"oll says he has received "quite a few messages" from people that really depend on the app. One user of the software told MacRumors:
People like me depend on this affordable solution to access computer games. It brought me back to gaming although I have suffered from muscular dystrophy since I was a child. Shame on Apple for locking down such a solution.If the license cancellation is indeed linked to Apple's acquisition of Faceshift, the KinesicMouse software would appear to be an unfortunate casualty, given Cuperti**'s stated commitment to accessibility. MacRumors has reached out to Apple for comment and we'll update this story with any forthcoming response.
Discuss this article (http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/accessibility-apple-faceshift-acquisition.1986491/) in our forums
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacRumors-All?d=6W8y8wAjSf4 (http://feeds.macrumors.com/~ff/MacRumors-All?a=UWCDs0uAIjk:6wQkQzvs_5E:6W8y8wAjSf4) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacRumors-All?d=qj6IDK7rITs (http://feeds.macrumors.com/~ff/MacRumors-All?a=UWCDs0uAIjk:6wQkQzvs_5E:qj6IDK7rITs)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MacRumors-All/~4/UWCDs0uAIjk
أكثر... (http://www.macrumors.com/2016/08/05/accessibility-apple-faceshift-acquisition/)
Before the acquisition, Faceshift worked closely with game and animation studios on tech**logy designed to quickly and accurately capture facial expressions using 3D sensors.
One of the lesser k**wn aspects of Faceshift's business was licensing out its face tracking SDK to other companies, one of which was Xcessity (http://www.xcessity.at), a small Austrian firm that specializes in designing human-computer interaction software to improve accessibility.
http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2016/08/xcessity.jpg
One of the most popular products made by the firm is the KinesicMouse (http://kinesicmouse.xcessity.at/index.php), which enables disabled people and those with degenerative conditions like Parkinson's disease to control a mouse through facial expressions. The functionality of the KinesicMouse software ?*which is also used in hospital settings ? depended heavily on the SDK developed by Faceshift, which received a royalty fee for every purchased license.
Earlier this week, Xcessity CEO Markus Pr"oll revealed in a tweet (https://twitter.com/xcessity/status/759992376165367808) and a post (http://forums.xcessity.at/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1078) on the Xcessity forum that Faceshift had revoked the license following Apple's acquisition of the company, and that he would ** longer be able to develop or offer the software:
The Faceshift SDK is the result of a research team that focused on this topic for several years at the university ETH Zürich. Whilst it would **t be impossible to create such a software it would take way too much time and resources. Believe me after about four years of development I have tried about everything.
I don't k**w who or why the decision was made to cancel the existing license agreement. I want to explicitly mention that I don't make any claims that Apple or Faceshift is responsible for the cancellation. On this part I am left in the dark just as you are. All I can tell is that the guys from Faceshift have been very supportive through all those years.The news came as a blow to users of the software, and Pr"oll says he has received "quite a few messages" from people that really depend on the app. One user of the software told MacRumors:
People like me depend on this affordable solution to access computer games. It brought me back to gaming although I have suffered from muscular dystrophy since I was a child. Shame on Apple for locking down such a solution.If the license cancellation is indeed linked to Apple's acquisition of Faceshift, the KinesicMouse software would appear to be an unfortunate casualty, given Cuperti**'s stated commitment to accessibility. MacRumors has reached out to Apple for comment and we'll update this story with any forthcoming response.
Discuss this article (http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/accessibility-apple-faceshift-acquisition.1986491/) in our forums
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacRumors-All?d=6W8y8wAjSf4 (http://feeds.macrumors.com/~ff/MacRumors-All?a=UWCDs0uAIjk:6wQkQzvs_5E:6W8y8wAjSf4) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacRumors-All?d=qj6IDK7rITs (http://feeds.macrumors.com/~ff/MacRumors-All?a=UWCDs0uAIjk:6wQkQzvs_5E:qj6IDK7rITs)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MacRumors-All/~4/UWCDs0uAIjk
أكثر... (http://www.macrumors.com/2016/08/05/accessibility-apple-faceshift-acquisition/)