AbstractThis paper extends a physically‐based approach to the realistic modelling and animation of human heads using scanned data. A three‐step procedure is proposed which begins with geometry and colour data acquired from a subject's head using a radial laser scanner, continues with the construction of a 3D model of the head with complete colour texture mapping, and culminates in real‐time, interactive facial animation. First, an adaptive meshing technique is described that creates non‐uniform facial meshes from the densely sampled data. These geometrically accurate facial meshes adapt to features of interest in the data, increasing polygon density over articulate face regions and areas of high curvature. Secondly, the mesh is transformed into a physically‐based head model of the subject. This incorporates a physical approximation to facial tissue and a set of anatomically‐motivated facial muscle actuators. Finally, these components are integrated in a facial modelling and animation system.