3D facial model exaggeration builder for small or large sized model manufacturing

Abstract

An action figure is a small human-shaped object used as a toy for children or artistic collection. In the past, the creation of action figures required intense manual effort. An initial trial to automate the process using recent scanning technology failed to yield figures with market appeal because the resulting action figures did not have sufficiently life-like shapes and expressions. The limiting factor which was not considered during this trial is the loss of individual characteristics resulting from either an increase or reduction in scale. We provide novel techniques for creating an exaggerated human face that retains all of the skin detail in the 3D scanned model, which will allow more characteristic figures to be easily created at any scale, thereby saving money and time during manufacturing. While traditional 3D printing applications utilize rigid models acquired using computer-aided design, our method demonstrates that deformable models (such as a human face) obtained from scanners are also suitable.