Optimal Regions for Linear Model-Based 3D Face Reconstruction

In this paper, we explore region-based 3D representations of the human face. We begin by noting that although they serve as a key ingredient in many state-of-the-art 3D face reconstruction algorithms, very little research has gone into devising strategies for optimally designing them. In fact, the great majority of such models encountered in the literature is based on manual segmentations of the face into subregions. We propose algorithms that are capable of automatically finding the optimal subdivision given a training set and the number of desired regions. The generality of the segmentation approach is demonstrated on examples from the TOSCA database, and a cross-validation experiment on facial data shows that part-based models designed using the proposed algorithms are capable of outperforming alternative segmentations w.r.t. reconstruction accuracy.