Face detection and facial feature extraction using color snake

Face detection and facial feature extraction is a necessary first-step in face recognition systems. These tasks are one of the visual tasks, which humans can do effortlessly. However, in computer vision terms, this task is not easy. This paper presents a new active contour model using color information for extracting facial features. We describe a new algorithm for detecting human faces and facial features, such as the location of the eyes, nose and mouth. The algorithm is composed of three main parts: the face region estimation part, the detection part and the facial feature extraction part. In the face region estimation part, images are segmented based on human skin color. In the face detection part, the template matching method is used. In the facial feature extraction part, a new proposed algorithm called "color snake" is applied to extract the facial feature points within the estimated face region.