• Fine face program for facial recognition. Find Face - how to find a person by photo on VK

    Which allows you to find a person by photo. We pass the microphone.

    Note from the editor: FindFace service will be fully launched on February 18, 2016, applications for smartphones will also be available in a few days. The material from the creators of the service was published prematurely; the editors apologize to the readers.

    Hello! My name is Artem Kukharenko, I am 25 years old and I work in the field of artificial neural networks and machine learning.

    Surely you have already searched on the Internet more than once different people- their photos, or contacts, or social media accounts. To do this, they had to describe the person they were looking for in words - indicate their name, or place of work, or some achievement, such as the title of world champion in curling. Now you can find a person simply by his photo, even if you took this photo yourself a couple of minutes ago.

    Limitless possibilities

    Let me introduce you to FindFace - a service for searching people on the Internet by photo. Thanks to N-Tech .Lab's neural network technology, you can find the person you need (or someone very similar to them, such as a twin) in just a few seconds. FindFace gives results even if the shooting angles do not completely match - that is, if your face is turned to three-quarters in the photo, the results may well contain full-face portraits.

    This is achieved thanks to the same neural networks - artificial intelligence constantly improves itself, and in order to find required file in a database of 300 million photos, it takes less than a second. This performance is achieved by converting the photo into a special ultra-compact representation, which is a critical part of the FindFace technology.

    The development of this algorithm brought us victory in the international competition The MegaFace Benchmark, organized by the University of Washington. More than 100 teams from all over the world presented their solutions there, including the authors of Facenet from Google, developers from Peking University and other leading teams in the world. But the Russian laboratory turned out to be the best.

    FindFace provides absolutely fantastic features. Let's say you're drinking beer at a bar and suddenly you like a girl you don't know. Take a photo of her on your smartphone, launch the application - and now you are reading her page on VKontakte. A couple of likes, a witty comment... well, in general, it’s clear.

    System Requirements

    Today FindFace works with the most popular mobile platforms- Android and iOS. There is also a browser version. All calculations are performed on remote servers, so the program will not make any special demands on the power of your gadgets.

    IN present moment service provides easy and convenient search across all avatars of users of the social network VKontakte, which is about 100 million people. Theoretically, the N-Tech algorithm. Lab allows you to work with photo databases of any social networks, for example, Instagram, Badoo or Tinder. FindFace opens up great prospects for dating sites. If a person likes Emma Watson, for example, the application will instantly find the profiles of users most similar to her.

    The basic functionality of FindFace is free. For users with a wider range of capabilities (unlimited number of queries per month, complex search settings, etc.), the service will cost from 149 to 459 rubles per month.

    Prospects

    The business applications of the recognition technology developed by N-Tech .Lab are very diverse. Here, for example, retail. A new customer has just entered your store, and a list of his customers is already hanging on your monitor. search queries linked to a social network account. Comfortable? After all, he didn’t have time to say a word to you, and you already know what you can offer him.

    Or, for example, the security sector. The apartment thief is still trying to figure out the code for the intercom, and the security system “ smart home“Using the camera in the entrance, I have already identified him from the database of repeat offenders and is sounding the alarm. Or in the entertainment field, when your own TV recognized the expression of sadness on the owner's face and automatically started your favorite channel.

    By the way, the N-Tech .Lab algorithm works not only with faces. Perhaps, for example, this is how it is used - you liked it new gadget in the hands of a friend, you photographed it, and after a few moments you know where it is sold and how much it costs. All you have to do is click the “buy” button. No matter how fantastic all these solutions sound today, work on them at the prototype level is already underway. Consumer electronics are developing at such an amazing pace today that we will be able to take advantage of them in the very near future.

    We return the floor to the readers.

    Would you like to have the floor and talk about your startup? .

    The developers of this unusual FindFace application, in fact, managed to create an analogue of Shazam for photos: to find a person by photo on VK, just upload his photo and start the search. For now it is carried out only by social network VKontakte, but the developers promise to soon adapt the technology for other social networks.

    The service is based on an algorithm based on neural network technology developed by N-Tech.Lab. According to tests carried out, searching for photos in a database of 300 million files, this algorithm it takes less than a second!

    In general, less words and more action. So let's try how Find Face- search by photo - works in practice.

    When launched, the application will request access to your VKontakte account to begin working. Then the main window will appear, in the middle of which there will be a single button - “Look for new friends.”


    Pressing it launches the camera application, and you can either take a photo of a person, for example, in a magazine, or even at a table opposite, or allow access to the camera roll and upload a photo from there, and then start searching for a person by photo in VK.

    First of all, I, of course, tried to look for myself. Then find pages on VK based on photographs of girls similar to Angelina Jolie. And you know, despite the fact that the search displays users who simply use a photo of a star as an avatar, I really succeeded!

    You can add your favorites to your Likes by clicking on the heart icon next to the user name. You can view photos in their albums and open their VKontakte profile to start communicating. For example, if you like a certain type of girl or guy, the application will show you profiles of users who are most similar to them.

    However, it is worth noting that in Find Face the user has access to only 30 free searches to find a VK page by photo, and if you want to remove the restriction, you will have to pay for a subscription, the monthly cost of which starts from 149 rubles. up to 459 rub. I must say that this is clearly not cheap.

    And if you consider that during use I also encountered a considerable number of glitches, for example, images in the “Camera Roll” were displayed as white squares, and the application periodically crashed, then I can hardly recommend paying for the Find Face paid plan.

    Although it's worth a try, because it's free. And perhaps, unlike me, you will like it better.

    Finding a person via the Internet is quite simple - now almost everyone has their own page on social networks. You just need to somehow reach it.

    There are several ways to do this (I talked about them), but they all rely on searching for information. You must indicate your first name, last name, age, city of residence and other information. But even if you know everything about a person, down to his blood type, this is not a guarantee that he will be found.

    It’s a completely different matter if you have a photograph, even a general one. Now there are services that can recognize faces and search for the pages of their owners.

    Preparing the photo

    First you need to crop the photo. Thus, we will reduce its computer size (usually it is large) and remove all unnecessary things. This is especially true if the photo is a group one.

    1. Open Start - All Programs - Accessories - Paint

    2. Open the photo in this program (you can simply drag it inside the window).

    3. Select the “Select” tool at the top and circle the desired person.

    4. Click the “Crop” button.

    Search on VKontakte (findface.ru)

    FindFace (findface.ru) is a special service for searching for people on the VKontakte social network. But to use it, you need to have a VK page.

    You can get it for free in just a minute - to do this, go to the website vk.com and register.

    To search through FindFace, follow the link and click on the “find identical” button.

    The service will ask you to allow access to your VK page, to which we agree.

    Loading the desired photo(you can simply drag it inside the window).

    And we wait for the end of the search procedure.

    That's all - all that remains is to find your lost one in the list :)

    Search the entire Internet

    Search by image. There are two for this special services: one is from Google (images.google.com), the other is from Yandex (images.yandex.ru). They are very easy to use: you just need to drag the photo into search bar.


    Google Image Search


    Search by image Yandex

    The result will appear immediately. First, the same picture will be shown, but in other sizes (if available on the network), just below - similar photos, even lower are the Internet pages on which they are posted.

    TinEye (tineye.com). Popular foreign image search service.

    Everything is exactly the same here: drag a picture from your computer into the search bar, and immediately get the result.

    Browser extensions

    Extensions or add-ons are small gadgets that are added to an Internet program and perform certain tasks in it. For example, there are extensions for downloading videos from Youtube or music from Contact. There are also such programs for searching by photos.

    Almost every browser has its own collection of various add-ons. But most of them are in Google Chrome. In other programs, there are literally one or two extensions for our purposes, and even then they do not work quite as they should. Therefore, I will show how to work with add-ons only using the example of Chrome.

    Where to find and how to install the extension

    1. Click on the button at the top right and select Additional tools - Extensions.

    2. We go down to the very bottom of the page (scroll with the wheel on the mouse) and click on “More extensions”.

    3. IN top line search print keywords and press Enter. The found extensions and applications appear. Install what you need (you can delete it later at any time).

    If you install an application, it is added to an empty tab, in the Services item. That is, in order to find it later, you need to open it new tab browser and go to “Services” (top left).

    Extensions are installed a little differently - they are added immediately after the address bar.

    Thanks to the availability of special web services and applications, you can easily find a person by photo.

    Majority modern programs and websites use artificial intelligence technology.

    It allows you to increase the accuracy of facial recognition in a photo as the number of program users increases.

    It should be understood that no search engine can give a 100% guarantee of finding an image. Often errors occur when reading pixels, or the browser searches for photos that are similar in meaning and color palette.

    Below are some of the most effective ways. If one of them does not help you, feel free to move on to the other.

    Ultimately, one of the methods will turn out to be the most suitable for your picture and the person will be found. We also recommend that you carry it out using several photographs at once, if you have them.

    ServiceGoogle

    The first and easiest way to search by image is the well-known Google. Developers popular system introduced a function for working with user images.

    Now you can not only enter a query, but also insert individual images into the text field. The search engine carries out analysis for all sites and social networks that are indexed in the system.

    Let's look at simple example how to use the function:

    • Let's go to the website. This page differs from the standard one in the presence additional button to add;
    • To get started, click on the camera icon. A window for selecting the type of photo upload will appear. The user can provide a direct link to an image already posted on the Internet or download graphics from the computer’s memory;
    • Click on the “Search by image” button.

    The result of processing your request in Google will look like this:

    It will automatically indicate the person's name or subject. Also, the user will be able to view similar images. One more element search results– pages that have a mention of the person found.

    Often, the result only shows similar images without providing a name. This means that on the Internet similar pictures too many and the system cannot find a 100% exact match. Try scrolling down to the "Pages with matching images" box. This way you can view a list of links that contain what you are looking for.

    With it you can search not only for people, but also for various objects. As practice shows, a search engine can be very useful when you need to find out the name of an unknown item or find things you like.

    Yandex

    Photo search from Yandex is another popular service, which searches for graphic content across all sites. At first glance, it is practically no different from Google, except for the interface and design. However, Yandex developers claim that their system uses a modified algorithm using computer vision.

    This way, by using both systems, you can have a better chance of finding the one you're looking for. To start the analysis, go to the main site. Find the text line and next to it click on the “Pictures” tab to go to the corresponding section:

    • In the tab that opens, click on the camera icon;
    • Now in the tab that opens, click on the button to load a photo from your PC memory or provide a direct link to the picture on the Internet. Click on “Find”;

    The result will be a set of maximum similar images, with the help of which you can find a person. Also, you can choose different sizes pictures and continue analysis with photos best quality. Be sure to look at the list of mentions on other sites to increase your chances of discovering the person.

    Analysis by photo inVK

    Besides standard systems, there are a lot of services for monitoring by photo only on specific social networks. Since 95% of Runet users have a profile on VKontakte, it is better to search for it using special resources, which work only with this social network. This way, you will reduce the analysis time and the number of similar pictures.

    To start monitoring photos in VK, you need to install an extension for Chrome browser. The app is called "StopFake". Go to the software store and enter the name of the extension. Then click on the install key and wait for it to appear on the right top corner buttons.

    Although the program is designed to quickly identify fake accounts, it can also be used to find people. You will need to upload a photo to your album on VKontakte, since this can only be done using the one that is in the site’s database.

    • Open the photo in your VK album. The album can be private, the main thing is that it is on the website;
    • After opening the image, press the button to launch the StopFake extension. It is located in the upper right corner of the browser toolbar. To eliminate possible errors in the operation of the utility, we recommend restarting the browser immediately after installing the extension;
    • It will automatically identify them on the social network that contains the photo you are looking for. Thanks to the author's signature, you can easily find the person you need. Click on the author's name to go to it.

    Today there is special applications for smartphones and PCs, which allow you to find out basic information about a person from a photograph. Some of them have migrated to online applications, which makes it possible to produce quick search people online who have a similar appearance. Although the accuracy is certain cases leaves much to be desired.

    Recognition occurs using a built-in neural network that quickly searches for similar photos based on certain characteristics, initially the most basic ones, for example, the weight of the image, its resolution, etc. Based on this feature, links to profiles/websites may appear in your search results completely different from the person depicted in the photo, but, fortunately, this happens extremely rarely. There are usually people with a similar appearance or similar situation in the photo (for example, if faces are hard to see).

    When working with photo search services, it is advisable not to upload photos where there are several people in focus. In this case, you are unlikely to get an adequate result.

    Additionally, you need to take into account that if you want to find his VKontakte profile using a person’s photo, then it is worth remembering that in the privacy settings of this social network, the user can check certain boxes, which is why his page will not be able to be scanned by search robots and viewed by users , not registered in VK. If the person you need has such privacy settings, then it will be very difficult to find his page by photo.

    Method 1: Yandex Images

    Using search engines may seem a little inconvenient, since one image may have several links where it was ever used. However, if you need to find as much information as possible about a person using only his photograph, then it is better to use a similar method. Yandex is Russian search engine, which does a good job of searching in the Russian-language segment of the Internet.

    Instructions for searching through this service look like this:


    If you are unhappy with the search result, you can use the following methods.

    Method 2: Google Images

    In fact, this is an analogue of Yandex Images from the international corporation Google. The algorithms used here are somewhat similar to those of the competitor. However, Google Images has a significant advantage - it is better at searching for similar photos on foreign sites, which Yandex does not do quite correctly. This advantage can also become a disadvantage if you need to find a person on the RuNet, in which case it is recommended to use the first method.

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