AU2001277148B2 - Method and system for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmark finding on a neutral face image - Google Patents

Method and system for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmark finding on a neutral face image Download PDF

Info

Publication number
AU2001277148B2
AU2001277148B2 AU2001277148A AU2001277148A AU2001277148B2 AU 2001277148 B2 AU2001277148 B2 AU 2001277148B2 AU 2001277148 A AU2001277148 A AU 2001277148A AU 2001277148 A AU2001277148 A AU 2001277148A AU 2001277148 B2 AU2001277148 B2 AU 2001277148B2
Authority
AU
Australia
Prior art keywords
facial feature
face image
actor
neutral face
customizing
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
AU2001277148A
Other versions
AU2001277148A1 (en
Inventor
Ulrich F. Buddenmeier
Hartmut Neven
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Google LLC
Original Assignee
Google LLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Google LLC filed Critical Google LLC
Publication of AU2001277148A1 publication Critical patent/AU2001277148A1/en
Assigned to NEVENGINEERING, INC. reassignment NEVENGINEERING, INC. Request for Assignment Assignors: EYEMATIC INTERFACES, INC.
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of AU2001277148B2 publication Critical patent/AU2001277148B2/en
Assigned to GOOGLE, INC. reassignment GOOGLE, INC. Request for Assignment Assignors: NEVENGINEERING, INC.
Assigned to GOOGLE LLC reassignment GOOGLE LLC Request to Amend Deed and Register Assignors: GOOGLE, INC.
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T13/00—Animation
    • G06T13/20—3D [Three Dimensional] animation
    • G06T13/40—3D [Three Dimensional] animation of characters, e.g. humans, animals or virtual beings
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T7/00—Image analysis
    • G06T7/97—Determining parameters from multiple pictures
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T7/00—Image analysis
    • G06T7/10—Segmentation; Edge detection
    • G06T7/11—Region-based segmentation
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
    • G06V10/00—Arrangements for image or video recognition or understanding
    • G06V10/40—Extraction of image or video features
    • G06V10/42—Global feature extraction by analysis of the whole pattern, e.g. using frequency domain transformations or autocorrelation
    • G06V10/422—Global feature extraction by analysis of the whole pattern, e.g. using frequency domain transformations or autocorrelation for representing the structure of the pattern or shape of an object therefor
    • G06V10/426—Graphical representations
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
    • G06V40/00—Recognition of biometric, human-related or animal-related patterns in image or video data
    • G06V40/10—Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
    • G06V40/16—Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
    • G06V40/168—Feature extraction; Face representation
    • G06V40/171—Local features and components; Facial parts ; Occluding parts, e.g. glasses; Geometrical relationships
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T2200/00—Indexing scheme for image data processing or generation, in general
    • G06T2200/24—Indexing scheme for image data processing or generation, in general involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
    • G06T2207/20—Special algorithmic details
    • G06T2207/20048—Transform domain processing
    • G06T2207/20064—Wavelet transform [DWT]
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
    • G06T2207/30—Subject of image; Context of image processing
    • G06T2207/30196—Human being; Person
    • G06T2207/30201—Face

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Vision & Pattern Recognition (AREA)
  • Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
  • Processing Or Creating Images (AREA)
  • Image Analysis (AREA)
  • Image Processing (AREA)

Description

WO 02/09038 PCT/US01/23337 1 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CUSTOMIZING FACIAL FEATURE TRACKING USING PRECISE LANDMARK FINDING ON A NEUTRAL FACE IMAGE CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e)(1) and 37 C.F.R.
1.78(a)(4) to U.S. provisional application serial number 60/220,288, entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CUSTOMIZING FACIAL FEATURE TRACKING USING PRECISE LANDMARK FINDING ON A NEUTRAL FACE IMAGE and filed July 24, 2000; and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 120 and 37 C.F.R. 1.78(a)(2) as a continuation-in-part to U.S. patent application serial number 09/188,079, entitled WAVELET-BASED FACIAL MOTION CAPTURE FOR AVATAR ANIMATION and filed November 6,1998. The entire disclosure of U.S. patent application serial number 09/188,079 is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to avatar animation, and more particularly, to facial feature tracking.
Virtual spaces filled with avatars are an attractive the way to allow for the experience of a shared environment. However, animation of a photo-realistic avatar generally requires robust tracking of an actor's movements, particularly for tracking facial features.
Accordingly, there exists a significant need for improved facial feature tracking. The present invention satisfies this need.
WO 02/09038 PCT/US01/23337 2 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is embodied in a method, and related system, for customizing a visual sensor using a neutral face image of an actor. The method includes capturing a front neutral face image of an actor and automatically finding facial feature locations on the front neutral face image using elastic bunch graph matching. Nodes are automatically positioned at the facial feature locations on the front neutral face image of the actor. The node positions are then manually corrected on front neutral face image of the actor.
Further, the method may include generating a corrector graph based on the corrected node positions.
Other features and advantages of the present invention should be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a flow diagram for illustrating a method for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmark finding on a neutral face image, according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an image of a visual sensor customization wizard having a camera image of an actor and a generic model image.
FIG. 3 is an image of a visual sensor customization wizard after automatic sensing and placement of node locations on a camera image of an actor's face.
FIG. 4 is an image of a visual sensor customization wizard having corrected node positions for generating a corrector graph, according to the present invention.
WO 02/09038 PCT/US01/23337 3 FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a technique for generating a corrector graph using a neutral face image, according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is embodied in a method and system for customizing a visual sensor for facial feature tracking using a neutral face image of an actor.
The method may include generating a corrector graph to improve the sensor's performance in tracking an actor's facial features.
As shown in FIG. 1, the method captures a front face image of the actor (block 12). The front neutral face image may be captured with the assistance of a visual sensor customization wizard 22, shown in FIG. 2. An example image 24 is shown to the actor to indicate the alignment of the captured image 26. Next, facial feature locations are automatically found using elastic bunch graph matching (block 14). Facial feature finding using elastic bunch graph matching is described in U.S. patent application number 09/188,079. In the elastic graph matching technique, an image is transformed into Gabor space using a wavelet transformations based on Gabor wavelets. The transformed image is represented by complex wavelet component values associated with each pixel of the original image. As shown in FIG. 3, nodes 28 are automatically placed on the front face image at the locations of particular facial features (block 16). Because of particular image characteristics of the actor, a facial feature graph placed over the actor's front face image may have nodes locations that are not properly placed on the front face image. For example, the four nodes for the actor's eyebrows are placed slightly above the eyebrows on the front face image.
The system operator may use the visual sensor customization wizard 22 to pick and move the nodes 28. The nodes are manually moved on the neutral face image 26 using a pointing device, such as a mouse, to select and drag a node to a desired location (block 18). For example, as shown in FIG. 4, node placement on WO 02/09038 PCT/US01/23337 4 the eyebrows of the actor's image has been adjusted to more closely aligned with the actor's eyebrows in accordance with the example image 24.
As shown in FIG. 5, after the nodes 28 for features, A through E, are correctly placed on the front neutral face image 24, image jets are recalculated for each facial feature and may be compared to corresponding jets in a gallery 32 of a bunch graph. The bunch graph gallery includes sub-galleries of a large number N of persons. Each person in the sub-gallery includes jets for a neutral face image 34 and for expressive facial images, 36 through 38, such as a smiling face or a face showing exclamation. Each feature jet from the corrected actor image 24 is compared with the corresponding feature jet from the neutral jets in the several sub-galleries. The sub-gallery neutral jet for a feature feature A) that most closely matches the jet for the image feature A is selected for generating a jet gallery for the feature A of a corrector graph 40. As a more particular example, for the feature E, the sub-gallery for person N has a neutral jet for feature E that most closely corresponds to thejet for feature E from the neutral image 24. The corrector graphjets for facial feature E are generated using the jet for feature E from the neutral jets along with the jets for feature E from each of the expressive feature jets, 36 through 38, from the sub-gallery N. Accordingly, the corrector graph 40 is formed using the best jets, with respect to the neutral face image 24, from the gallery 32 forming the bunch graph.
The resulting corrector graph 40 provides a much more robust sensor for tracking node locations. A custom facial feature tracking sensor incorporating the corrector graph may provide a more photo-realistic avatar and an enhanced virtual space experience.
Although the foregoing discloses the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it is understood that those skilled in the art may make various changes to the preferred embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.
The invention is defined only by the following claims.

Claims (11)

1. A method for customizing facial feature tracking, comprising: capturing a front neutral face image of an actor; automatically finding facial feature locations on the front neutral face 00 image using elastic bunch graph matching; automatically positioning nodes at the facial feature locations on the neutral face image of the actor; and N manually correcting the positioning of the nodes on the front neutral face image of the actor using a visual sensor customization wizard presenting the captured front neutral face image of the actor showing the positioning of the nodes at the facial feature locations on the front neutral face image of the actor, and presenting an example image to indicate proper positioning.
2. A method for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claiml, further comprising generating a corrector graph based on the corrected node positions.
3. A method for customizing facial feature tracking, comprising: means for capturing a front neutral face image of an actor; means for automatically finding facial feature locations on the front neutral face image using elastic bunch graph matching; means for automatically positioning nodes at the facial feature locations on the front neutral face image of the actor; and means for manually correcting the positioning of the nodes on the Nfront neutral face image of the actor using a visual sensor customization wizard presenting the captured front neutral face image of the actor showing the positioning of the nodes at the facial feature locations on the front neutral face image of the actor, and presenting an example image to indicate proper 00 positioning.
4. A. system for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim 3, O further comprising means for generating a corrector graph based on the corrected node positions. A method for customizing facial feature tracking, comprising: capturing a front neutral face image of an actor; automatically finding facial feature locations on the front neutral face image using image analysis based on wavelet component values generated from wavelet transformations on the front neutral face image; automatically positioning nodes at the facial feature locations on the front neutral face image of the actor; and manually correcting the positioning of the nodes on the front neutral face image of the actor using a visual sensor customization wizard presenting the captured front neutral face image of the actor showing the positioning of the nodes at the facial feature locations on the front neutral face image of the actor, and presenting an example image to indicate proper positioning. N6. A method for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim tb3 ;wherein the wavelet transformations use Gabor wavelets.
7. A method for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim 1, further comprising generating a corrector graph for expressive facial features based on the wave component values at the facial feature locations on the front neutral face image.
8. A method for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim 1, wherein manually correcting the positioning of the nodes is performed after the automatically positioning of the nodes at the facial features.
9. A method for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim 2, wherein the corrector graph associates jets for facial features from a front neutral face image with respective jets for facial features from expressive face images. A method for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim 2, further comprising tracking facial features of the actor using the corrector graph.
11. A system for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim 4, wherein the corrector graph associates jets for facial features from a front neutral face image with respective jets for facial features from expressive face images.
12. A system for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim 4, further comprising means for tracking facial features of the actor using the corrector graph. 00 5 13. A method for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim wherein manually correcting the positioning of the nodes is performed after the automatically positioning of the nodes at the facial features.
14. A method for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim further comprising generating a corrector graph based on the corrected node positions. A method for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim 14, wherein the corrector graph associates jets for facial features from a front neutral face image with respective jets for facial features from expressive face images.
16. A method for customizing facial feature tracking as defined in claim 14, further comprising tracking facial features of the actor using the corrector graph.
AU2001277148A 2000-07-24 2001-07-24 Method and system for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmark finding on a neutral face image Ceased AU2001277148B2 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US22028800P 2000-07-24 2000-07-24
US60/220,288 2000-07-24
PCT/US2001/023337 WO2002009038A2 (en) 2000-07-24 2001-07-24 Method and system for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmark finding on a neutral face image

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
AU2001277148A1 AU2001277148A1 (en) 2002-05-02
AU2001277148B2 true AU2001277148B2 (en) 2007-09-20

Family

ID=22822939

Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
AU7714801A Pending AU7714801A (en) 2000-07-24 2001-07-24 Method and system for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmarkfinding on a neutral face image
AU2001277148A Ceased AU2001277148B2 (en) 2000-07-24 2001-07-24 Method and system for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmark finding on a neutral face image

Family Applications Before (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
AU7714801A Pending AU7714801A (en) 2000-07-24 2001-07-24 Method and system for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmarkfinding on a neutral face image

Country Status (5)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1303842A2 (en)
JP (1) JP2004505353A (en)
KR (1) KR100827939B1 (en)
AU (2) AU7714801A (en)
WO (1) WO2002009038A2 (en)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR101823611B1 (en) 2015-10-05 2018-01-31 주식회사 감성과학연구센터 Method for extracting Emotional Expression information based on Action Unit
KR101783453B1 (en) 2015-10-05 2017-09-29 (주)감성과학연구센터 Method and Apparatus for extracting information of facial movement based on Action Unit

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1999053443A1 (en) * 1998-04-13 1999-10-21 Eyematic Interfaces, Inc. Wavelet-based facial motion capture for avatar animation
US6031539A (en) * 1997-03-10 2000-02-29 Digital Equipment Corporation Facial image method and apparatus for semi-automatically mapping a face on to a wireframe topology

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6031539A (en) * 1997-03-10 2000-02-29 Digital Equipment Corporation Facial image method and apparatus for semi-automatically mapping a face on to a wireframe topology
WO1999053443A1 (en) * 1998-04-13 1999-10-21 Eyematic Interfaces, Inc. Wavelet-based facial motion capture for avatar animation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
Wiskott et al., "Face recognition by elastic graph matching", 1999 *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2002009038A2 (en) 2002-01-31
KR20030041131A (en) 2003-05-23
AU7714801A (en) 2002-02-05
JP2004505353A (en) 2004-02-19
EP1303842A2 (en) 2003-04-23
KR100827939B1 (en) 2008-05-13
WO2002009038A3 (en) 2002-06-27

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US6714661B2 (en) Method and system for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmark finding on a neutral face image
KR101238608B1 (en) A system and method for 3D space-dimension based image processing
US9396399B1 (en) Unusual event detection in wide-angle video (based on moving object trajectories)
US8624952B2 (en) Video telephony image processing
US8218825B2 (en) Capturing and processing facial motion data
US8241125B2 (en) Apparatus and method of interaction with a data processor
US7050655B2 (en) Method for generating an animated three-dimensional video head
WO2010073432A1 (en) Image processing device and image processing method
US20030012410A1 (en) Tracking and pose estimation for augmented reality using real features
US8860729B2 (en) Gaze intent estimation for retargeting of characters
US11158073B2 (en) System for image compositing including training with custom synthetic data
WO2021053604A1 (en) A method for capturing and displaying a video stream
US6437808B1 (en) Apparatus and method for transmitting graphical representations
JPH10240908A (en) Video composing method
AU2001277148B2 (en) Method and system for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmark finding on a neutral face image
JPH1196366A (en) Method and device for synthesizing facial image of person wearing head mount display
JP2010152557A (en) Image processor and image processing method
AU2001277148A1 (en) Method and system for customizing facial feature tracking using precise landmark finding on a neutral face image
JP3784474B2 (en) Gesture recognition method and apparatus
JP7288792B2 (en) Information processing device and device information derivation method
Schreer et al. Real-time avatar animation steered by live body motion
Kato et al. Online Adaptive Integration of Observation and Inpainting for Diminished Reality with Online Surface Reconstruction
CN111083345A (en) Apparatus and method for generating a unique illumination and non-volatile computer readable medium thereof
JP7499345B2 (en) Markerless hand motion capture using multiple pose estimation engines
JP2006127541A (en) Gesture recognition method

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PC1 Assignment before grant (sect. 113)

Owner name: NEVENGINEERING, INC.

Free format text: FORMER APPLICANT(S): EYEMATIC INTERFACES, INC.

PC1 Assignment before grant (sect. 113)

Owner name: GOOGLE, INC.

Free format text: FORMER APPLICANT(S): NEVENGINEERING, INC.

FGA Letters patent sealed or granted (standard patent)
HB Alteration of name in register

Owner name: GOOGLE LLC

Free format text: FORMER NAME(S): GOOGLE, INC.

MK14 Patent ceased section 143(a) (annual fees not paid) or expired