Selfie Mask: A Face-Capturing HMD with Polarizing Plates

Abstract

Head-mounted displays (HMDs) that provide a virtual reality (VR) experience using a simple configuration have been become popular. However, HMDs still have a well-known problem in that they hide the user's face when worn making it difficult for their avatars in VR space to communicate with each other because the users cannot relay their facial expressions and gaze information to their avatars. In this paper, we propose a new HMD constructed using polarizing plates that can capture the user's face and expressions while wearing it. The proposed method enables the user's face to be captured by an internal camera while blocking the scenery from the user's view using orthogonal polarizing plates. The proposed method can be implemented at low cost and can directly capture a full-color image of the user's face unlike conventional methods using infrared cameras. We implemented a prototype and confirmed that the proposed HMD captures the user's face while showing VR images. This paper discusses the unique characteristics and possible applications of the proposed method.