Disney Research recently made headlines at this year’s SIGGRAPH conference, announcing a number of innovative new touch interfaces that can create virtual textures and even turn plants into interactive toys, but this isn’t the only new technology that the group is trying to get its head around.

Last week at the conference Disney Research unveiled a new area of interest – facial capture technology. The group revealed that it’s been working on not one, but two completely unique systems, including one that is designed to better deal with the problems posed by facial hair.

The new system goes beyond simply detecting features like beards, moustaches and bushy eyebrows, using a special algorithm to look past that hairy mess and determine the exact shape and form of someone’s face underneath it all, before recreating it. The system uses something called a ‘passive camera’ that is able to collect data and build an accurate 3D model of someone’s face from just one exposure.

As for its other system, this is designed to give animatronics a more ‘lifelike’ appearance. The technique under development is called ‘physical face cloning’, and involves designing and creating synthetic skin that makes a perfect match for the subject its being made for.

Disney Research has developed a better way to determine the shape and elasticity requirements of synthetic skin. Using 3D capture technology, researchers have created a huge database of facial expressions to help them measure and understand the exact requirements needed for each ‘face’, before it is attached to an animatronic figure. As you can see from this video, the results are incredibly realistic.