The perfect woman- according to a software program

Can we create the perfect face with a software program? A Canadian Web user has tried to find out.

With the use of "morphing" software, Pierre Tourigny fused the faces of around 30 girls rated 9.5 or 10 on Hot or Not (where attractiveness is rated on a 1-10 scale). By applying the same technique to various groups of girls, different archetypes emerged - the beauty, the "girl next door" and the beast - as well as a palette of go-betweens. But what about charm? It doesn't exist in the software.

The beast, the "girl next door", and the beauty.

The most and least attractive. Each fusion is made from around 30 images.

Miss Universe candidates morphed by region.

"Serious studies show that we find people with 'average' features beautiful. But it's not true"

Pierre Tourigny, 57, is the creator of the "morphs" and a statistical programming consultant from Gatineau, Canada.

I used morphing software which is found free on the internet and has often been used in cinema and music videos (for example Michael Jackson's 'Black or White'). Each time, I took around 30 people voted in the same category on Hot or Not and morphed them to create an average per category. Generally, morphs tend to be prettier than their sources because face asymmetries and skin blemishes average out.

Serious studies show that we find people with 'average' features beautiful. In other words, the most beautiful person's face would have proportions average to everyone else's. But it's not true. You can see on the images I published that with an average of the prettiest, you get a better looking person than with an average of the ugliest. So there must be a particular symmetry that beautiful people have, a symmetry that is nothing 'average'.

Whether the pretty or ugly category, morphs don't look that dissimilar, because they represent averages. However, one thing that is noticeable is weight. The girls considered less pretty are fatter. Personally, I found that surprising, because I thought the girls who are too thin would also be noted for it.

The comments left on these morphs confirm the ratings on Hot or Not, even if some say they prefer a certain girl from the average class. That gave me the idea of posting my morphs on Hot or Not, to see what reactions they would get. I think they'll get higher votes than the original images I used."

"Physical perfection doesn't exist"

Physical perfection doesn't exist. Humans are asymmetric by nature. You only need to look at nostrils, which are never exactly the same. The perfection of an entirely symmetrical face is something artificial, which is why people created on computers, like Lara Croft, could never exist in reality. 

It is true that in medical school we're taught to think of facial proportions according to the three-tier rule, like a painter or a sculptor would. According to the rule, the face should be divided into three equal sections: from the hairline to the eyelids; the eyelids to the upper lip; and the upper lip to the neck. In referring to these criteria, we consider "long-faced" or "short-faced" people inadequate, and many are operated on to rectify this. We're not looking for perfection; that's man-made. We're just trying to shift towards harmony."