ABOUT FACE : COMPUTERGRAPHIC SYNTHESIS AND MANIPULATION OF FACIAL IMAGERY

A technique of pictorially synthesizing facial imagery using optical videodiscs under computer control is described. Search, selection and averagin processes are performed on a catalogue of whole faces and facial features to yield a composite, expressive, recognizable face. An immediate application of this techique is the reconstruction of a particular face from memory for police identification, thus the project is called, IDENTIDISC. Part I-FACEMAKER describes the production and implementation of the IDENTIDISC system to produce composite faces. Part II-EXPRESSIONMAKER describes animation techniques to add expression and motion to composite faces. Expression sequences are manipulated to make 'anyface' make any face. Historical precedents of making facial composites, theories of facial recognition, classification and expression are also discussed. This thesis is accompanied by two copies of FACEMAKER-III, an optical videodisc produced at the Architecture Machine Group in 1982. The disc can be played on an optical videodisc player. The length is approximately 15,0000 frames. Frame numbers are indicated in the text by [ 1. Thesis Supervisor: Andrew Lippman Title: Assistant Professor of Media Technology The work reported.herein was supported by the Cybernetics Technology Division of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, under Contract No. MDA-9.03-8-C-0097.