Casio’s digital art frame converts photos into works of art

The Japanese camera maker says the frame is part of its quest to transform cameras from mere photo-taking instruments into creative digital imaging devices. You can display snapshots on the device and transform one photo into eight different artistic images using a “snapshot-to-painting” automatic conversion function.

The device, unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, also has face recognition technology that allows you to delicately alter human faces and expressions in a photo. That means they aren’t just photos anymore, but creative works that look realistic. Users can upload these masterpieces to a blog or social network via a built-in wireless network in the frame. You can also create your own images to adorn a digital clock or calendar.

The art styles include: Water Color Painting, Color Pencil Sketch, Pastel Painting, Pointillism, Air Brush, Oil Painting, Gothic Oil Painting, and Fauvist Oil Painting. The frame uses Adobe’s Flash Lite playback technology, which lets users display preset Flash content, such as clocks and calendars.

The product will be available in the spring. It has a 10.1-inch screen, two gigabytes of memory, an SD memory card slot, stereo speakers, and a power-saving display that turns on when someone approaches the screen.