Method for generating photo-realistic animated characters
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for generating an animated image of a photo-realistic face, comprising the steps ofdecomposing one or more pictures of a face into a hierarchy of parameterized facial parts;
- storing the parameterized facial parts into a memory;
loading, in a designated manner, one or more of the parameterized facial parts from the memory; and
overlaying the one or more parameterized facial parts onto a base face to form a whole face.
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Abstract
A method for generating photo-realistic characters wherein one or more pictures of an individual are decomposed into a plurality of parameterized facial parts. The facial parts are stored in memory. To create animated frames, the individual facial parts are recalled from memory in a defined manner and overlaid onto a base face to form a whole face, which, in turn, may be overlaid onto a background image to form an animated frame.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method for generating an animated image of a photo-realistic face, comprising the steps of
decomposing one or more pictures of a face into a hierarchy of parameterized facial parts; -
storing the parameterized facial parts into a memory; loading, in a designated manner, one or more of the parameterized facial parts from the memory; and overlaying the one or more parameterized facial parts onto a base face to form a whole face. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for generating animated frames of photo-realistic characters, comprising the steps of
decomposing one or more pictures of a face into a group of parameterized facial parts; -
storing the group of parameterized facial parts into a model library; overlaying designated parameterized facial parts of the group onto a base face to form a whole face; and overlaying the whole face onto a background image to form an animated frame. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for generating an animated sequence of frames of photo-realistic faces, comprising the steps of:
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decomposing one or more pictures of a character into a plurality of parameterized facial parts, each parameterized facial part corresponding to a specific expression and each parameterized facial part comprising parameters in memory; loading from memory, for each of a plurality of desired facial expressions, a set of parameterized facial parts; overlaying, for each of the plurality of desired facial expressions, the set of parameterized facial parts onto a base face to form a whole face having the facial expression, wherein parameters of each parameterized facial part of the set are determined based on the desired facial expression; and overlaying, for each of the plurality of desired facial expressions, the whole face onto a background to form a sequence of animated frames. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. A method for generating an animated frame of a speaking photo-realistic face, comprising the steps of:
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obtaining from memory a viseme predetermined to correspond with a specified phoneme input; selecting from memory a set of one or more parameterized facial parts based on parameters corresponding to the viseme; overlaying the set of selected one or more parameterized facial parts onto a base face to form a whole face; and overlaying the whole face onto a background to form a frame. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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28. The method of step 27, wherein the specified phoneme comprises the output of a text-to-speech synthesizer used to input text to be spoken concurrently with the animated frame.
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30. A method for generating a sequence of animated frames of photo-realistic characters, comprising the steps of
decomposing one or more pictures of a face into parameterized facial parts comprising a plurality of distinct expressions; -
storing the plurality of parameterized facial parts into a memory; loading, for each of a plurality of frames, a designated set of parameterized facial parts from the memory; overlaying, for each of the plurality of frames, the designated parameterized facial parts onto a base face to form an animated image. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for synthesizing an animated frame of a photo-realistic character, comprising the steps of:
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obtaining a viseme from memory based on a phoneme input; selecting one or more parameterized facial parts based on parameters corresponding to the viseme; calculating coarticulation effects based on the parameters corresponding to the viseme; producing modified parameters based at least on said calculating step; selecting modified parameterized facial parts based on the modified parameters; and generating an animated frame by overlaying facial parts onto a base face overlaid on a background image. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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38. A method for developing information to enable a program to generate an animated image comprising the steps of:
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defining a base face and storing the definition of said base face in a memory; decomposing said base face into facial parts; for at least one of said facial parts, developing a plurality of different realizations of said at least one of said facial parts, and storing said different realizations in said memory;
where some of said different realizations of said at least one of said facial parts correspond to different visemes. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
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41. A method for generating a sequence of animated frames comprising the steps of:
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identifying a phoneme to be synthesized; selecting from a memory a set of facial parts and their associated parameters, which facial parts combine to form a face image, where at least one of the facial parts that is selected for inclusion in said set is selected from a subset of like facial parts in said memory, based on said phoneme; retrieving from memory a base face definition; and overlaying said facial parts selected for said set onto said base face with the aid of said parameters.
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Specification