A comic emotional expression method and its applications

We propose a comic emotional expression method using an abstract facial model and its applications. Up to now, we have tried to produce more realistic emotional expression. When representing only emotion however, an abstract facial model could be rather better than the real picture of a face. The abstract model is a comic-style expression, in which almost all components are discarded except the necessary parts such as eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth. In the comic expression, we can employ some exaggerated face expressions and special marks in order to emphasize various emotions. We apply the method to emotional face transmission and sign-language communications. Experimental results show the possibility that the method could be used efficiently in real-time for various applications.