The facial animation engine: toward a high-level interface for the design of MPEG-4 compliant animated faces

In this paper we propose a method for implementing a high-level interface for the synthesis and animation of animated virtual faces that is in full compliance with MPEG-4 specifications. This method allows us to implement the Simple Facial Object profile and part of the Calibration Facial Object Profile. In fact, starting from a facial wire-frame and from a set of configuration files, the developed system is capable of automatically generating the animation rules suited for model animation driven by a stream of FAP (Facial Animation Parameters). If the calibration parameters (feature points and texture) are available, the system is capable to exploit this information for modifying suitably the geometry of wire-frame and for performing its animation by means of calibrated rules computed “ex-novo” on the adapted somatics of the model. Evidence of the achievable performance is reported at the end of the paper by means of pictures showing the capability of the system to reshape its geometry according to the decoded MPEG-4 facial calibration parameters and its effectiveness in performing facial expressions.