MS Research: Video to Toon
Video production is one of my hobbies. My software of choice is Vegas Video 5.0 due to its power, flexibility, feature set and price compared to its competitors. So far I think I've created somewhere around 16 or so short video segments (4 of them actually used some cool chromakeying effects). Anyway, that's not the point of this post.
MS Research released an article showing how they can take video and convert it to look like a cartoon. I am absolutely astounded at how awesome it actually looks (watch the video). I was expecting a fake looking render similar to the fake looking cartoon styles in 3D games (cel shading) but this actually looks like a real cartoon. The only thing that saddens me is the quote at the bottom of the article:
"Unfortunately, it won't be on your computer store shelf anytime soon, though the researchers would like this eventually."