Stylized animatable representation

An apparatus for computing a stylized, animatable representation of a subject from a family of stylized animatable representations, the apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory storing a realistic representation of the subject and storing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
• access a realistic representation of the subject;
• compute a mesh mapping using a machine learning model that is trained using a supervised training methodology that uses training examples comprising two dimensional (2D) images of the subject and corresponding stylized pictures of the subject, wherein computing the mesh mapping comprises:
• inputting the realistic representation to the trained machine learning model;
• and
• causing the trained machine learning model to compute a mesh mapping;
• cause the trained machine learning model to apply the mesh mapping to the realistic representation to produce a target mesh;
• and
• select the stylized animatable representation from the family, based on closeness of the target mesh with instances of the family.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodied with computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• accessing a realistic representation of a subject;
• computing a mesh mapping using a machine learning model that is trained using a supervised training methodology that uses training examples comprising two dimensional (2D) images of the subject and corresponding stylized pictures of the subject, wherein computing the mesh mapping comprises:
• inputting the realistic representation to the trained machine learning model;
• and
• causing the trained machine learning model to compute a mesh mapping;
• causing the trained machine learning model to apply the mesh mapping to the realistic representation to produce a target mesh;
• and
• selecting a stylized animatable representation from a family of stylized animatable representations, based on closeness of the target mesh with instances of the family.