Animation faciale basée données : un état de l'art

National audienceCet article dresse un panorama des différentes problématiques liées à l'animation faciale basée données et présente les dernières avancées et solutions proposées par l'état de l'art. Le but de l'animation basée données est d'animer des personnages virtuels reproduisant les actions effectuées par des acteurs humains. Dans ce contexte, le visage joue un rôle prépondérant puisqu'il est l'un des principaux vecteurs de l'émotion et de la communication chez l'humain. Par ailleurs, contrairement au reste du corps dont les mouvements sont contraints par des articulations et des os, les déformations du visage suivent une autre forme de dynamique ce qui en fait un cas d'étude à part. Les applications sont diverses, par exemple, la création d'avatars virtuels ou l'animation de personnages présentant un comportement naturel. Dans ce papier, nous aborderons la question depuis la capture des données faciales (les différents dispositifs et méthodes de capture) jusqu'aux méthodes de synthèse exploitant ces données

Integrated multimodal interaction framework for virtual reality foot reflexology stress therapy

Frameworks in interaction research have seen varying compositions from numerous researchers, and have been applied for either a specific or general purposes in several domains. Previous studies have highlighted virtual reality (VR) in stress therapy, and revealed the potential of foot reflexology therapy using VR technology. However, the interaction framework for foot reflexology through virtual reality requires further investigation. This study presents the design and evaluation of an integrated multimodal interaction framework for virtual reality foot reflexology stress therapy. The components of the proposed framework were identified from the literature review and previous research, which included design principles, technology, structural components, multimodal interaction architecture, and segment composition. This formed the proposed integrated multimodal interaction framework for virtual reality foot reflexology stress therapy. The proposed framework was then validated using expert reviews. This was followed by prototype development, which explored the effectiveness of the virtual reality foot reflexology therapy application on relaxation and stress relief using Smith Relaxation States Inventory (SRSI-3). A pre and post-test intervention quasi experiment was employed in the study for the evaluation. The findings revealed that Virtual Reality Foot Reflexology Stress Therapy (VR–FRST) effectively evokes the relaxation state categories of transcendence, mindfulness, positive energy, and basic relaxation, and also reduces users stress state. This research provides a concise, organized, practical and validated integrated multimodal interaction framework for the design and development of foot reflexology therapy in a virtual environment. This contributes to the field of interaction design for virtual reality developers and complementary therapy for the alternative medical practitioners

Optimal Marker Set for Motion Capture of Dynamical Facial Expressions

International audienceWe seek to determine an optimal set of markers for marker-based facial motion capture and animation control. The problem is addressed in two different ways: on the one hand, different sets of empirical markers classically used in computer animation are evaluated; on the other hand, a clustering method that automatically determines optimal marker sets is proposed and compared with the empirical marker sets. To evaluate the quality of a set of markers, we use a blendshape-based synthesis technique that learns the mapping between marker positions and blendshape weights, and we calculate the reconstruction error of various animated sequences created from the considered set of markers in comparison to ground truth data. Our results show that the clustering method outperforms the heuristic approach