# Face-ageing software...is there really such a thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 14, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246 "2009-01-14T12:11:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/1 "2009-01-14T12:11:40Z")
And is it cheap and commercially available? Where? I’d like to see what my 3-year old twin grandsons might look like years from now. ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/2 "2009-01-14T12:27:55Z")
Not what you are looking for, but FaceGen Modeller have age slide which works pretty good IMO. It’s rather expensive software and is designed to work with adult faces, though. ETA: oh, free version is available for download. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/3 "2009-01-14T12:32:06Z")
I don’t believe there is—in a sense. But in another sense, there most probably is. I’m pretty sure that a lot of face-aging work that law enforcement uses goes off photos of the parents, presuming that the child will grow up to look at least somewhat similar. So if you take yours and your spouse’s picture, use a morphing program to combine those into a single face, and then use the same program to morph that face with your child’s, it may show something of how they will look. So pretty much any morphing software should work, though the blanket assumption that the child will look particularly much like you and your spouse is sort of questionable. A human with art skills, getting involved in the process, can feminize or masculinize one of the parent’s pictures, slim them down or chubby them up. They can spot which facial characteristics they seem to inherit from either parent and keep just that section of the face from that parent. And so they can produce a better picture than what will be accomplished by the process I described above. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/4 "2009-01-14T15:22:20Z")
I am convinced I have more wrinkles through constant frowning whilst using Windows. Does that count? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/5 "2009-01-14T16:22:15Z")
> [@puppygod](#): > > Not what you are looking for, but FaceGen Modeller have age slide which works pretty good IMO. It’s rather expensive software and is designed to work with adult faces, though. > > ETA: oh, free version is available for download. I downloaded the free version. Thanks for the tip, **puppygod**. (A bit sick at the moment, so I won’t be trying it right now.) ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/6 "2009-01-14T16:23:30Z")
My thanks to all pf you. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/7 "2009-01-14T17:33:31Z")
If you find some software put an old picture of you as a kid through it and see what happens. Then let us all here know if it came close ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/8 "2009-01-14T17:37:11Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > If you find some software put an old picture of you as a kid through it and see what happens. > > Then let us all here know if it came close Deal. When I thoink about this, I wonder why some company hasn’t capitalized on the crime dram shows, and come out with aging software. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/9 "2009-01-14T21:19:14Z")
There was a documentary series on UK tv last year, I think, about families and their diets, and this technique was used to illustrate how they would turn out if they carried on eating the way they were. It had a pretty strong effect on some of the parents and kids. Can’t for the life of me remember what it was called though. Anyway, I digress… ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/10 "2009-01-14T21:20:52Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > There was a documentary series on UK tv last year, I think, about families and their diets, and this technique was used to illustrate how they would turn out if they carried on eating the way they were. It had a pretty strong effect on some of the parents and kids. > > Can’t for the life of me remember what it was called though. > > Anyway, I digress… No, I didn’t regard your post as a digression. Rather interesting, in fact. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/11 "2009-01-14T22:08:51Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Can’t for the life of me remember what it was called though. [_Honey, We’re Killing the Kids_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey,_We're_Killing_the_Kids) ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/12 "2009-01-14T22:26:05Z")
To see FaceGen Modeller in action, go to the tutorials at [http://video.google.com/videosearch?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=FaceGen+Modeller&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video\_result\_group&resnum=4&ct=title#](http://video.google.com/videosearch?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=FaceGen+Modeller&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#) You might enjoy them. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-ageing-software-is-there-really-such-a-thing/481246/13 "2009-01-14T22:26:59Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > [_Honey, We’re Killing the Kids_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey,_We're_Killing_the_Kids) Well reminded, **Bryan**! 🙂 p.s. And, you’re welcome, **BarnOwl**. 😉