Control of feature-point-driven facial animation using a hypothetical face

A new approach for the generation of feature point-driven facial animation is presented. This approach is based on the construction of a hypothetical face formed by connecting face feature points into a net and representing each facet of the net by a mathematically expressed surface to control the deformation of a real face model. The deformation is controlled by changing both the locations of the feature points and their tangents. The experimental results show that the hypothetical-surface-based method can generate almost identical facial expressions to a real face