Facial Animation: A Survey Based on Artistic Expression Control

Abstract

Creating realistic human face models and facial animations has been a persistent problem in Computer Animation. However, being the utmost channel in reflecting the character's emotion, facial animation has drawn researchers' interest for years. This paper surveys the animation techniques developed in Computer Graphics for facial animation. It summarizes the theoretical approaches used in published work and describes their strengths, weaknesses, and relative performance. First, the problems and current status of facial animation are described. Then, we review a variety of geometric, image, performance-driven techniques of facial animation. Artistic expression control is especially emphasized in evaluating each method. Finally, summary of these facial computational models in achieving artistic expression are also offered as the conclusions.