Constraint-Based Facial Animation

  • Authors:
  • Zsofia Ruttkay

  • Affiliations:
  • Centrum for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI), 1090 GB Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  • Venue:
  • Constraints
  • Year:
  • 2001

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Abstract

Constraints have beentraditionally used for computer animation applications to defineside conditions for generating synthesized motion according toa standard, usually physically realistic, set of motion equations.The case of facial animation is very different, as no set ofmotion equations for facial expressions is available. In thispaper we discuss a facial animation editor, which uses numericalconstraints for two roles: to declare the mimic repertoire ofsynthetic faces and other requirements a facial animation hasto meet, and to aid the animator in the process of composinga specific animation fulfilling the requirements. The editoris thus also a ``motion sculpturing'' tool, which lifts the taskof creating facial animation from the control data manipulationlevel to the conceptual design level. The major aid of the editoris to repair inconsistencies due to changes made by the user,and revise changes for which no good repair is possible. Also,reuse of constrained animations, especially expressions, is supported.The main machinery behind these services is interval propagation,which, if using certain type of linear inequalities to expressthe character- as well as the animation-specific requirements,can produce quickly the interval of feasible values for eachcontrol variable. If a solution (usually, repair) has to be produced,it is generated by selecting the best one from a restricted setof acceptable solutions, based on user-defined or automaticallygenerated criteria for the choices.