Image manipulation using AI (and new member intro)

[Carlito]

Hi! I'm Carlito.

I wrote a long intro post but it disappeared, so here goes a shorter lazier version.
My passion is mannequins coming to life. This is sort of the opposite of ASFR but I think it's close enough that we can find a lot in common.
Lately I've been practicing the use of various AI image editing/enhancing programs to make image manipulations of mannequins coming to life. Or vice versa, if that's what you like. I'll post some for reference.
I want to stress that no privacy violations are taking place here - these images are all the product of copying, enhancing and editing the original mannequin face.

I joined because I was looking for a way to contact the authors EHY and DB Story, whose stories ("To life" and "Still Life Chronicles" respectively) dealing with mannequins I deeply love and would like to illustrate using my manipulations. There doesn't seem to be any up to date contact info for either anywhere so if anyone knows of a way to get in touch with them, I would greatly appreciate advice. Also, if anyone knows of media involving mannequins coming to life (please no Doctor Who), do let me know.

[heines]

Interesting concept, great pics. Had to try that, too.

[Jay]

Nice pics, and welcome to the forums.

[Carlito]

heines

Yeah, that's Faceapp, right? I started from that and sort of worked my way up. It's a nice app but it doesn't quite do the transformation that I want, like changing the skin texture, removing makeup etc.

Jay

Hi!

[heines]

You‘re right. FaceApp is great for faces, hence the name Since I‘m a turning people into dolls guy, ist works good for me.
Seeing your wonderful pictures here, may I dare to ask what you‘re using now?

[greneker03]

there is also the possibility, you can get live models made up to look like actual mannequins and film them slowly coming to life. creating the first initial stills would allow you to do some photoshopping to make their appearance even more artificial, but that would also allow you to have video created instead of photos

[Carlito]

heines

The entire process is a bit too long to explain in detail, but basically it involves an app called Reface, a variety of image enhancement solutions on Telegram and somesuch, some manual editing and some Reface again and enhancement again.

greneker03

Hmm, being able to make a video is definitely a huge advantage. I used to be pretty sceptical portrayals of mannequins by living women just standing still, but a certain Japanese adult video about mannequins in a museum (modeled after an existing museum no less!) coming to life really changed my mind!

HEre's a few more manipulations I made in recent days.

[heines]

Hey Carlito, interesting.
I hadn‘t had much luck with reface so far, maybe I should dig deeper.

[Carlito]

Reface by itself is pretty limited. I guess it's smart enough to recognize that something is 'off' about mannequin faces and tends to interpret that 'offness' as excessive makeup, especially around the eyes. Doesn't help that most mannequins have heavy makeup as it is. It takes a bit of enhancement and editing to get good results, which can get pretty time-consuming.

One trick I can teach you but don't feel comfortable showing is to use one of those facial recognition search engines. I use a service called Pimeyes. The idea is to input a mannequin face, or a mannequin face after processing, and look for pictures of real people who look just like the original mannequin. If you find someone identical-looking, that's the biggest win, although obviously a perfect match is not guaranteed.

Here's a few more manips I made recently.