Exploring Latent Space Using a Non-linear Dimensionality Reduction Algorithm for Style Transfer Application

A latent space represents data by embedding them in a multidimensional vector space. In this way an abstract estimation of any complex domain could be created. Empirical approach for exploring the latent space generated by known pre-trained model of human face images using a nonlinear dimensionality reduction algorithm is presented in this paper. One aim was to find more detailed entangled features (beard and hair color) between the real images and their representation, in artistic face portrait application. Experimental results showed that sparse vectors in the latent space could be useful to obtain optimal results with relatively low effort. To evaluate our work, we present the results of a survey that was sent to 25 thousand subscribers of the real world application and got around 360 responses. The main goal of the survey was to find some quantitative measurements that can be used in our research.