Facial geometry parameterisation based on Partial Differential Equations

Abstract

Geometric modelling using Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) has been gradually recognised due to its smooth instinct, as well as the ability to generate a variety of geometric shapes by intuitively manipulating a relatively small set of PDE boundary curves. In this paper we explore and demonstrate the feasibility of the PDE method in facial geometry parameterisation. The geometry of a generic face is approximated by evaluating spectral solutions to a group of fourth order elliptic PDEs. Our PDE-based parameterisation scheme can produce and animate a high-resolution 3D face with a relatively small number of parameters. By taking advantage of parametric representation, the PDE method can use one fixed animation scheme to manipulate the facial geometry in varying Levels of Detail (LODs), without any further process.