A Solution for Computer Facial Animation

A total solution for computer facial animation is proposed. First, a well-de ned 3D head model is deformed according to several photographs with di erent views, where the 3D head model exhibits good animation features. After pose recovery, B ezier curves are used to depict the subtle contours on a face. Moreover, elastic deformation can be applied to adjust the locations of global features. We concentrate on the work of model tting, where a model editing tool is developed. Then, a novel technique is proposed to make realistic facial animation driven by motion captured data. One's facial expressions are recorded using Oxford Metrics' VICON 8 optical motion capture system, where 23 optical markers are attached on one's face. The captured 3D motion data are then processed to eliminate 3D global head motion by nding the pivot point, which is our upper neck center, for rotation. These processed 3D motion data can be directly applied to a head model. An interpolation function is employed to calculate the o sets of other unconstrained mesh vertices. Finally, a face is divided into several regions where force constraints are applied to limit the displacement of vertices on the mesh depending on the region to make the animation more natural. The animation system has an update rate of over 30 frames per second on a Pentium III 500MHz PC with an OpenGL acceleration card.