Expression capture

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Expression capture..

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Demos/ download Overview

Use of expression capture in facial animation

Video footage of an actor can be mapped onto an arbitrary computer generated (CG) character. The animated character does not have to resemble the original actor.

To achieve this expressions are captured from each frame of the actor's video. Then the CG character's face is mapped with virtual muscles that distort the model's mesh. The virtual muscles are tensed according to the captured data to reproduce face motions based on the original actor's. If required, certain muscle movements can be exaggerated or played-down over a section of the performance.

The captured expression data contains information necessary to reproduce lip movements that look natural when used with audio from the original source video.

This use of expression capture saves much time over the traditional key-frame animation technique.

Click here to download the demo video.

Use of expression capture for websites/ computer games

A unique website presentation can be made with facial expression capture. Imagine an applet that displays a talking CG character that can be paused, rewound etc, and can even be rotated using the mouse. Or a computer game that has lots of interactive characters that talk realistically to you. This is achievable with a low bandwidth.

A low detail CG character is required that can be rendered in real-time on a home computer. This character could be generated in sync with compressed audio dialogue. Very low-bandwidth is achieved by simply streaming the captured expression information rather than full video.

Click here for a bigger version of the animation on the right.

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