A finite element model of the face including an orthotropic skin model under in vivo tension

Computer models of the human face have the potential to be used as powerful tools in surgery simulation and animation development applications. While existing models accurately represent various anatomical features of the face, the representation of the skin and soft tissues is very simplified. A computer model of the face is proposed in which the skin is represented by an orthotropic hyperelastic constitutive model. The in vivo tension inherent in skin is also represented in the model. The model was tested by simulating several facial expressions by activating appropriate orofacial and jaw muscles. Previous experiments calculated the change in orientation of the long axis of elliptical wounds on patients’ faces for wide opening of the mouth and an open-mouth smile (both 30 degrees). These results were compared with the average change of maximum principal stress direction in the skin calculated in the face model for wide opening of the mouth (18o) and an openmouth smile (25 degrees). The displacements of landmarks on the face for four facial expressions were compared with experimental measurements in the literature. The corner of the mouth in the model experienced the largest displacement for each facial expression (11–14 mm). The simulated landmark displacements were within a standard deviation of the measured displacements. Increasing the skin stiffness and skin tension generally resulted in a reduction in landmark displacements upon facial expression

Analysis and Construction of Engaging Facial Forms and Expressions: Interdisciplinary Approaches from Art, Anatomy, Engineering, Cultural Studies, and Psychology

The topic of this dissertation is the anatomical, psychological, and cultural examination of a human face in order to effectively construct an anatomy-driven 3D virtual face customization and action model. In order to gain a broad perspective of all aspects of a face, theories and methodology from the fields of art, engineering, anatomy, psychology, and cultural studies have been analyzed and implemented. The computer generated facial customization and action model were designed based on the collected data. Using this customization system, culturally-specific attractive face in Korean popular culture, “kot-mi-nam (flower-like beautiful guy),” was modeled and analyzed as a case study. The “kot-mi-nam” phenomenon is overviewed in textual, visual, and contextual aspects, which reveals the gender- and sexuality-fluidity of its masculinity. The analysis and the actual development of the model organically co-construct each other requiring an interwoven process. Chapter 1 introduces anatomical studies of a human face, psychological theories of face recognition and an attractive face, and state-of-the-art face construction projects in the various fields. Chapter 2 and 3 present the Bezier curve-based 3D facial customization (BCFC) and Multi-layered Facial Action Model (MFAF) based on the analysis of human anatomy, to achieve a cost-effective yet realistic quality of facial animation without using 3D scanned data. In the experiments, results for the facial customization for gender, race, fat, and age showed that BCFC achieved enhanced performance of 25.20% compared to existing program Facegen , and 44.12% compared to Facial Studio. The experimental results also proved the realistic quality and effectiveness of MFAM compared with blend shape technique by enhancing 2.87% and 0.03% of facial area for happiness and anger expressions per second, respectively. In Chapter 4, according to the analysis based on BCFC, the 3D face of an average kot-mi-nam is close to gender neutral (male: 50.38%, female: 49.62%), and Caucasian (66.42-66.40%). Culturally-specific images can be misinterpreted in different cultures, due to their different languages, histories, and contexts. This research demonstrates that facial images can be affected by the cultural tastes of the makers and can also be interpreted differently by viewers in different cultures

Facial expression transfer method based on frequency analysis

We propose a novel expression transfer method based on an analysis of the frequency of multi-expression facial images. We locate the facial features automatically and describe the shape deformations between a neutral expression and non-neutral expressions. The subtle expression changes are important visual clues to distinguish different expressions. These changes are more salient in the frequency domain than in the image domain. We extract the subtle local expression deformations for the source subject, coded in the wavelet decomposition. This information about expressions is transferred to a target subject. The resulting synthesized image preserves both the facial appearance of the target subject and the expression details of the source subject. This method is extended to dynamic expression transfer to allow a more precise interpretation of facial expressions. Experiments on Japanese Female Facial Expression (JAFFE), the extended Cohn-Kanade (CK+) and PIE facial expression databases show the superiority of our method over the state-of-the-art method

A simulation for the creation of soft-looking, realistic facial expressions

In dieser Arbeit wird ein Weg zur Erstellung von realistischen, weich wirkenden, virtuellen Gesichtsausdrücken vorgestellt. Um dies zu ermöglichen wurde eine Simulation der Gesichtsmuskeln mit einer Simulation der menschlichen Haut kombiniert. Für die Gesamtsimulation wurde daraufhin ein Tool erstellt, welches das Austesten und die Manipulation der Muskeln ermöglicht.In this thesis, a way is presented for the creation of realistic, soft-looking, virtual facial expressions. A simulation of the facial muscles and a simulation of the human skin was combined for this task. In succession a tool was developed which allowed the testing of the simulation and the manipulation of the virtual muscles

Facial Modelling and animation trends in the new millennium : a survey

M.Sc (Computer Science)Facial modelling and animation is considered one of the most challenging areas in the animation world. Since Parke and Waters’s (1996) comprehensive book, no major work encompassing the entire field of facial animation has been published. This thesis covers Parke and Waters’s work, while also providing a survey of the developments in the field since 1996. The thesis describes, analyses, and compares (where applicable) the existing techniques and practices used to produce the facial animation. Where applicable, the related techniques are grouped in the same chapter and described in a chronological fashion, outlining their differences, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. The thesis is concluded by exploratory work towards a talking head for Northern Sotho. Facial animation and lip synchronisation of a fragment of Northern Sotho is done by using software tools primarily designed for English.Computin