Study of Volumetric Methods for Face Reconstruction

This paper presents an early study about a reconstruction method that extends previous space carving methods to handle all characteristics of human faces: complex non-Lambertian materials, untextured areas, highly detailed geometry, etc. This face study is seen as a preliminary step to a more general framework for nonLambertian reconstruction. We therefore avoid specific techniques like parameterized face models. Since we expose our early studies, we mainly present the related existing work and discuss the pros and cons of each approach. We aim at discerning the strength and weaknesses of the classical tools in order to adapt and improve them to handle non-Lambertian materials while overcoming their limitations. We show our first results which are promising and validate our global approach. Throughout the discussion, we raise several questions that identify complex issues related to our goal. We provide some hints that pave the way for a better understanding of the global problem. We are confident in that further studies will lead to significant improvements over existing methods.