Empirical modeling of human face kinematics during speech using motion clustering

In this paper we present an algorithm for building an empirical model of facial biomechanics from a set of displacement records of markers located on the face of a subject producing speech. Markers are grouped into clusters, which have a unique primary marker and a number of secondary markers with an associated weight. Motion of the secondary markers is computed as the weighted sum of the primary markers of the clusters to which they belong. This model may be used to produce facial animations, by driving the primary markers with measured kinematic signals.