Abstract
Reproducing the subtleties of a face through animation requires developing a sophisticated character rig. But, creating by hand the inner structure and controls of each character is a very labor-intensive and time-consuming task. We developed an application that is 90—99% faster than traditional manual rigging. The application automatically transfers the rig and animations from the source to a target model. Unlike prior work related to morphing and re-targeting that focus on transferring animations, we transfer the complete facial setup in addition to animations. Our method is general, so artists can define their own rig and then quickly apply it to different models, even with disparate proportions and appearance (human, cartoon or fantastic). This gives artists complete freedom to manipulate the characters: they can create new animations and not be limited by pre-generated ones.

Dr Verónica Costa Orvalho
Verónica Costa Orvalho has a Ph.D. in Software Development (Computer Graphics) from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (2007), where her researched centered on “Facial Animation for CG Films and Videogames”. She has been working in IT companies for the past 11 years, such as IBM and Ericsson, and Film companies, such as Patagonik Film Argentina. She has given many workshops and has international publications related to game design and facial animation. She has received international awards for several projects: “Photorealistic facial animation and recognition”, “Face Puppet” and “Face In Motion”. Now, she is a full time researcher and CTO of Face In Motion (www.faceinmotion.com), developing algorithms for 3D modeling and animation and a new platform to ease the facial character setup process for CG productions.

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