New technology allows you to mimic anyone’s handwriting

Have you ever wished you could write just like Arthur Conan Doyle? New technology developed by University College London (UCL) can grant your wish: you won't have the literary prowess of the man behind Sherlock Holmes but you will be able to replicate his handwriting almost exactly.

UCL computer scientists have created a programme that can mimic anyone’s handwriting style once it has some samples to learn from. Useful applications include preserving the handwriting style of a stroke victim who can no longer use a pen, or keeping the distinctive style of a comic book artist’s writing while translating the comic into other languages.

The computer programme learns to recreate a sample of handwriting by analysing everything from the spacing between characters and the style of joining up individual letters to how much pressure a person applies when pressing pen to paper. It has taken Conan Doyle’s script and written those words Sherlock never uttered: “Elementary my dear Watson”.

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