Face detection and recognition are not limited to the visible spectrum of light. With a Near-Infrared (NIR) camera and NIR light source, face detection and recognition are possible even when a scene appears totally dark to the human eye. This capability is quite useful in security and surveillance applications.
We studied basic usage of NIR depth cameras, such as the Asus Xtion PRO, in Chapter 4, Depth Estimation and Segmentation. We extended the object-oriented code of our interactive application, Cameo. We captured frames from a depth camera. Based on depth, we segmented each frame into a main layer (such as the user's face) and other layers. We painted the other layers black. This achieved the effect of hiding the background so that only the main layer (the user's face) appeared on-screen in the interactive video feed.
Now, let&apos...