Facial image processing methods and systems
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsStephen Marschner, Brian K. Guenter, Sashi Raghupathy, Kirk Olynyk, Sing Bing Kang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In the described embodiment, methods and systems for processing facial image data for use in animation are described. In one embodiment, a system is provided that illuminates a face with illumination that is sufficient to enable the simultaneous capture of both structure data, e.g. a range or depth map, and reflectance properties, e.g. the diffuse reflectance of a subject's face. This captured information can then be used for various facial animation operations, among which are included expression recognition and expression transformation.
Claims11
A computer-implemented facial image processing method comprising:
- illuminating a subject's head with one or more light sources that are selected to suppress specular reflection;
- capturing digital images from a plurality of positions around the subject's head while the subject's head is illuminated;
- computing an albedo map for each of the digital images;
- and
- combining two or more of the computed albedo maps for the digital images to provide a single albedo map for the subject's head.
A facial image-processing system comprising:
- a camera;
- multiple light sources that produce light selected to suppress the specular reflection of a subject's head that is viewed by the camera;
- and
- an image processor configured to:
- receive multiple digital images of a subject's head that are produced by the camera;
- compute an albedo map for each image;
- combine albedo maps for all of the images to provide a single albedo map for the subject's head.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.