Automatic landmark annotation and dense correspondence registration for 3D human facial images

Dense surface registration of three-dimensional (3D) human facial images holds great potential for studies of human trait diversity, disease genetics, and forensics. Non-rigid registration is particularly useful for establishing dense anatomical correspondences between faces. Here we describe a novel non-rigid registration method for fully automatic 3D facial image mapping. This method comprises two steps: first, seventeen facial landmarks are automatically annotated, mainly via PCA-based feature recognition following 3D-to-2D data transformation. Second, an efficient thin-plate spline (TPS) protocol is used to establish the dense anatomical correspondence between facial images, under the guidance of the predefined landmarks. We demonstrate that this method is robust and highly accurate, even for different ethnicities. The average face is calculated for individuals of Han Chinese and Uyghur origins. While fully automatic and computationally efficient, this method enables high-throughput analysis of human facial feature variation.Comment: 33 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Advanced Biometrics with Deep Learning

Biometrics, such as fingerprint, iris, face, hand print, hand vein, speech and gait recognition, etc., as a means of identity management have become commonplace nowadays for various applications. Biometric systems follow a typical pipeline, that is composed of separate preprocessing, feature extraction and classification. Deep learning as a data-driven representation learning approach has been shown to be a promising alternative to conventional data-agnostic and handcrafted pre-processing and feature extraction for biometric systems. Furthermore, deep learning offers an end-to-end learning paradigm to unify preprocessing, feature extraction, and recognition, based solely on biometric data. This Special Issue has collected 12 high-quality, state-of-the-art research papers that deal with challenging issues in advanced biometric systems based on deep learning. The 12 papers can be divided into 4 categories according to biometric modality; namely, face biometrics, medical electronic signals (EEG and ECG), voice print, and others

Fast and Accurate 3D Face Recognition Using Registration to an Intrinsic Coordinate System and Fusion of Multiple Region classifiers

In this paper we present a new robust approach for 3D face registration to an intrinsic coordinate system of the face. The intrinsic coordinate system is defined by the vertical symmetry plane through the nose, the tip of the nose and the slope of the bridge of the nose. In addition, we propose a 3D face classifier based on the fusion of many dependent region classifiers for overlapping face regions. The region classifiers use PCA-LDA for feature extraction and the likelihood ratio as a matching score. Fusion is realised using straightforward majority voting for the identification scenario. For verification, a voting approach is used as well and the decision is defined by comparing the number of votes to a threshold. Using the proposed registration method combined with a classifier consisting of 60 fused region classifiers we obtain a 99.0% identification rate on the all vs first identification test of the FRGC v2 data. A verification rate of 94.6% at FAR=0.1% was obtained for the all vs all verification test on the FRGC v2 data using fusion of 120 region classifiers. The first is the highest reported performance and the second is in the top-5 of best performing systems on these tests. In addition, our approach is much faster than other methods, taking only 2.5 seconds per image for registration and less than 0.1 ms per comparison. Because we apply feature extraction using PCA and LDA, the resulting template size is also very small: 6 kB for 60 region classifiers

Analysis of 3D Face Reconstruction

This thesis investigates the long standing problem of 3D reconstruction from a single 2D face image. Face reconstruction from a single 2D face image is an ill posed problem involving estimation of the intrinsic and the extrinsic camera parameters, light parameters, shape parameters and the texture parameters. The proposed approach has many potential applications in the law enforcement, surveillance, medicine, computer games and the entertainment industries. This problem is addressed using an analysis by synthesis framework by reconstructing a 3D face model from identity photographs. The identity photographs are a widely used medium for face identi cation and can be found on identity cards and passports. The novel contribution of this thesis is a new technique for creating 3D face models from a single 2D face image. The proposed method uses the improved dense 3D correspondence obtained using rigid and non-rigid registration techniques. The existing reconstruction methods use the optical ow method for establishing 3D correspondence. The resulting 3D face database is used to create a statistical shape model. The existing reconstruction algorithms recover shape by optimizing over all the parameters simultaneously. The proposed algorithm simplifies the reconstruction problem by using a step wise approach thus reducing the dimension of the parameter space and simplifying the opti- mization problem. In the alignment step, a generic 3D face is aligned with the given 2D face image by using anatomical landmarks. The texture is then warped onto the 3D model by using the spatial alignment obtained previously. The 3D shape is then recovered by optimizing over the shape parameters while matching a texture mapped model to the target image. There are a number of advantages of this approach. Firstly, it simpli es the optimization requirements and makes the optimization more robust. Second, there is no need to accurately recover the illumination parameters. Thirdly, there is no need for recovering the texture parameters by using a texture synthesis approach. Fourthly, quantitative analysis is used for improving the quality of reconstruction by improving the cost function. Previous methods use qualitative methods such as visual analysis, and face recognition rates for evaluating reconstruction accuracy. The improvement in the performance of the cost function occurs as a result of improvement in the feature space comprising the landmark and intensity features. Previously, the feature space has not been evaluated with respect to reconstruction accuracy thus leading to inaccurate assumptions about its behaviour. The proposed approach simpli es the reconstruction problem by using only identity images, rather than placing eff ort on overcoming the pose, illumination and expression (PIE) variations. This makes sense, as frontal face images under standard illumination conditions are widely available and could be utilized for accurate reconstruction. The reconstructed 3D models with texture can then be used for overcoming the PIE variations

Machine Learning

Machine Learning can be defined in various ways related to a scientific domain concerned with the design and development of theoretical and implementation tools that allow building systems with some Human Like intelligent behavior. Machine learning addresses more specifically the ability to improve automatically through experience

Object Tracking

Object tracking consists in estimation of trajectory of moving objects in the sequence of images. Automation of the computer object tracking is a difficult task. Dynamics of multiple parameters changes representing features and motion of the objects, and temporary partial or full occlusion of the tracked objects have to be considered. This monograph presents the development of object tracking algorithms, methods and systems. Both, state of the art of object tracking methods and also the new trends in research are described in this book. Fourteen chapters are split into two sections. Section 1 presents new theoretical ideas whereas Section 2 presents real-life applications. Despite the variety of topics contained in this monograph it constitutes a consisted knowledge in the field of computer object tracking. The intention of editor was to follow up the very quick progress in the developing of methods as well as extension of the application