Automatic generation of realistic 3-D human head models remains a challenging task in computer vision and computer graphics for many years. Various applications like virtual reality, computer games, video conferencing, and filmmaking could benefit from photorealistic human face models. Although there exist devices like laser range scanners and structured light installations that can capture accurate 3-D shape of complex objects, they are very expensive and not easy to use. Our goal is to make p hotorealistic human head models very easily for a common PC user. This means using affordable devices (like digital camera) for data acquisition, maximizing possible level of automation along with controls over the creation process, and robust algorithms which generate plausible results even in case of imperfect input data acquired with simple equipment by a non-professional user.

The tasks of the project include:

• Face detection and facial features extraction from frontal and profile view;
• Intellectual 3D model morphing;
• 3D model reconstruction from noisy depth data;
• Texture generation;

This project was started in 2001 in cooperation with Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. The project lasted for three years. As a result, a face modeling system that produces a polygonal textured head model from frontal and profile images was created. Since it is designed to be used by a common user with cheap equipments, it is highly automated and robust to the conflicting data and different picture-taking conditions.

Now this research continues in Multimedia Lab., Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology.

Illustrations:

Automatic feature detection
Source images and resulting models

Model examples:

Several examples of reconstructed models are available. Use any VRML viewer (for example Cortona VRML Client) to view the models.

Model 1

Model 2

Model 3

Model 5

The project team:

Collaborators at the SAIT side: In Kyu Park (Multimedia Lab, SAIT)

Publications:

Vezhnevets V., Soldatov S., Degtiareva A., and Park I.-K. "Automatic extraction of frontal facial features". Proc. Sixth Asian Conference on Computer Vision (ACCV04), vol. 2, pp. 1020-1025, Jeju, Korea, January 2004.
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