3-D motion estimation in model-based facial image coding

An approach to estimating the motion of the head and facial expressions in model-based facial image coding is presented. An affine nonrigid motion model is set up. The specific knowledge about facial shape and facial expression is formulated in this model in the form of parameters. A direct method of estimating the two-view motion parameters that is based on the affine method is discussed. Based on the reasonable assumption that the 3-D motion of the face is almost smooth in the time domain, several approaches to predicting the motion of the next frame are proposed. Using a 3-D model, the approach is characterized by a feedback loop connecting computer vision and computer graphics. Embedding the synthesis techniques into the analysis phase greatly improves the performance of motion estimation. Simulations with long image sequences of real-world scenes indicate that the method not only greatly reduces computational complexity but also substantially improves estimation accuracy.< >