The Microsoft Pix camera app was launched sometime last year. The iOS app has since been known for using artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance photos. The app enhances normal photos with richer details and more natural colour reproduction and is supposedly better than the iOS stock camera app. The app with its latest update today, has launched new filters which make it work in a manner similar to what camera app Prisma does.
The difference between what each app does according to Microsoft is that Pix uses texture, style, and backgrounds that it has picked using deep neural networks from actual famous works of art. Additionally, instead of transforming the entire picture uniformly like Prisma does, Microsoft Pix uses these networks.
According to Josh Weisberg, a Microsoft researcher, the update allows the app to “run in tandem to save time and produce these effects”.
Our approach lends itself to styles based on source images (that are used to train the network) that are not paintings, such as the fire effect
When you click a photo using the app, it takes a short burst of frames. It then keeps the best three of these photos and deletes the rest, saving your time and your phone’s storage. Also, it still uses good parts of the discarded images to enhance the photos it has chosen.
There have been eleven filters released in this update, with expectations of more in the upcoming updates. The initial eleven are Glass, Petals, Bacau, Charcoal, Heart, Fire, Honolulu, Zing, Pop, Glitter and Ripples.
Another feature introduced in this update is the Pix Paintings feature. This feature creates a short video of your photo being transformed into a painting and makes it seem as though it is happening in real time. You also have the option to save or share the short video.
Weisberg added,
In the past, a lot of our efforts were focused on using AI and deep learning to capture better moments and better image quality. This is more about fun. I want to do something cool and artistic with my photos.
The Microsoft Pix app is available on the Apple App store for free download and regular updates can happen from here onwards.
