Dynamic replacement of the face of an actor in a video movie

• US 20030228135A1
• Filed: 06/06/2003
• Published: 12/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Illsley, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 7,697,787 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/52
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/00 Three dimensional [3D] modelling, e.g. data description of 3D objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/272 Means for inserting a foreground image in a background image, i.e. inlay, outlay

Abstract

The present invention concerns a method for replacing the face of an actor in a video clip, with the one of a user (U) of an entertainment video system (4), consisting in: a preparation phase, taking one first fixed picture of the face of the user; building a 3D-model of that face; replacing a first video picture of the actor with a reproduction of the face of the user; and while the clip is going on, replacing the face of the actor in the successive pictures of the video clip with successive pictures reproducing the face of the user, the transitions of the face of the actor being followed by applying at least orientation, size and displacement vectors to the 3D-model of face of the user on the basis of orientation, size and displacement vectors calculated for the face of the actor in the clip.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically replacing the face of an actor in a video clip, with the one of a user of an entertainment video system, comprising the steps of:

in a preparation phase;

taking at least one first fixed picture of the face of the user;

building a 3D-model of that face;

replacing a first video picture of the actor with a reproduction of the face of the user after matching their respective size and orientation; and

while the clip is going on;

replacing the face of the actor in the successive pictures of the video clip with successive pictures reproducing the face of the user, the transitions of the face of the actor in the successive pictures of the video clip being followed by applying at least orientation, size and displacement vectors to the 3D-model of face of the user on the basis of orientation, size and displacement vectors calculated for the face of the actor in the clip.

2. The method of claim 1, in which the successive pictures reproducing the face of the user are calculated with the 3D-model built during the preparation phase, to which are applied said orientation, size and displacement vectors and also transformation vectors of the actor in the clip, without taking new pictures of the user while the clip is going on.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising, while the clip is going on, the steps of:

taking periodically a current picture of the face of the user;

calculating current transformation vectors of that face from the preceding picture of the face of the user, using the 3D-model to determine said transformations;

applying to the preceding picture of the user inserted in the clip the displacement, size and orientation vectors calculated for the actor in the clip, and the current transformation vectors of the face of the user.

4. The method of claim 1, in which the face of the actor is pre-recorded with orientation, displacement and transformation vectors from view to view.

5. Entertainment system for playing the part of an actor in a movie clip comprising:

a digital video reader (8);

a video screen (2);

a video camera (6) to take fixed pictures of an user;

a processing device (4) for replacing the face of a dedicated actor of the movie clip with the face of the user according to the method of any of claims 1 to 4.