Face Model Adaptation for Tracking and Active Appearance Model Training

In this paper, we consider the potentialities of adapting a 3D deformable face model to video sequences. Two adaptation methods are proposed. The first method computes the adaptation using a locally exhaustive and directed search in the parameter space. The second method decouples the estimation of head and facial feature motion. It computes the 3D head pose by combining: (i) a robust feature-based pose estimator, and (ii) a global featureless criterion. The facial animation parameters are then estimated with a combined exhaustive and directed search. Tracking experiments and performance evaluation demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of the developed methods. These experiments also show that the proposed methods can outperform the adaptation based on a directed continuous search.