Card3DFace—An Application to Enhance 3D Visual Validation in ID Cards and Travel Documents

Leandro Dihl,Leandro Cruz,Nuno Gonçalves

doi:10.3390/app11198821

Abstract

The identification of a person is a natural way to gain access to information or places. A face image is an essential element of visual validation. In this paper, we present the Card3DFace application, which captures a single-shot image of a person’s face. After reconstructing the 3D model of the head, the application generates several images from different perspectives, which, when printed on a card with a layer of lenticular lenses, produce a 3D visualization effect of the face. The image acquisition is achieved with a regular consumer 3D camera, either using plenoptic, stereo or time-of-flight technologies. This procedure aims to assist and improve the human visual recognition of ID cards and travel documents through an affordable and fast process while simultaneously increasing their security level. The whole system pipeline is analyzed and detailed in this paper. The results of the experiments performed with polycarbonate ID cards show that this end-to-end system is able to produce cards with realistic 3D visualization effects for humans.

Highlights

In recent times, security issues have become fairly prominent in our daily routines, digitally and visually
Regarding the personalization of the cards, this was achieved with a specialized printer with laser technology, which is commonly used for the personalization of Portuguese ID cards at the Portuguese Mint and Official Printing Office (INCM)
The calibration of the personalization machine was conducted by expert operators. This process involved the calibration of the exact position of the laser beam reaching the lenticular lenses and the exact calibration of the angle of the card holder with respect to the laser beam

Summary

Introduction

Security issues have become fairly prominent in our daily routines, digitally and visually. The necessity to authenticate an individual in order to grant access to a restricted area or task is common practice. The identity verification that represents a confirmation that a given identity as real and that the individual claiming the identity is entitled to it has become of major importance. Identity verification is required when there is a risk associated with dealing with the wrong person. The level of confidence in identity claims depends on the risk related to incorrect identification and in the liability distribution among involved parties. The usage of a face image in authentication cards and travel documents is considered the simplest and the most common method, rendering it the first step in the forging of a document. The counterfeiting techniques for forging documents have increased and improved, especially regarding visual authentication, which represents an easier way to forge documents. The use of techniques to make this task more difficult or even impossible has attracted significant attention

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