Facial expression morphing and animation with local warping methods

In this paper, we applied local warping techniques to construct a framework of image-based morphing for facial expression animation with low complexity. From the experience we obtained in various spatial transformations, the local warping methods are more adequate for facial expression morphing. We utilized two transformations that can deal with local deformations: the piecewise polynomial transformation and radial basis function transformation. The simulation results are satisfactory. The facial warping techniques could be applied to various applications, such as face recognition, authentication, dynamic imagery, speech (action) semantic animation, multimedia and virtual reality construction, low-bandwidth videoconferencing, image transmission, and intelligent man-machine interface