Analysis and Synthesis of Facial Image Sequences Using Physical and Anatomical Models

AbstrucfWe present a new approach to the analysis of dynamic facial images for the purposes of estimating and resynthesizing dynamic facial expressions. The approach exploits a sophisticated generative model of the human face originally developed for realistic facial animation. The face model, which may be simulated and rendered at interactive rates on a graphics workstation, incorporates a physics-based synthetic facial tissue and a set of anatomically motivated facial muscle actuators. We consider the estimation of dynamic facial muscle contractions from video sequences of expressive human faces. We develop an estimation technique that uses deformable contour models (snakes) to track the nonrigid motions of facial features in video images. The technique estimates muscle actuator controls with sufficient accuracy to permit the face model to resynthesize transient expressions.