Apparatus for providing facial image animation
First Claim
1. Apparatus for providing facial image animation comprising:
- a plurality of image forming units each with at least a portion of a facial expression corresponding to a spoken phoneme;
means for visually displaying images received from said forming units; and
means for selectively activating different pluralities of said image forming units in any of a plurality of different orders to provide correspondingly different facial expression sequences.
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Abstract
An image animation apparatus includes a rotating disk having film negatives mounted around its periphery each film negative having a different facial expression on it. By use of an associated microprocessor which responds to certain control inputs the sequence of facial expressions can be selected by activating a flash tube at the proper time to project the image on the face of a featureless mannequin to cause the sequence of facial expressions to correspond to spoken phonemes which are synchronized with the facial expressions. Alternatively, instead of a rotating disk a matrix of optical cells can be selectively flashed. In addition, the image forming film negative associated with each optical cell can either contain a complete facial expression or a portion such as the eyes, mouth or eyebrows with the simultaneous activation of, for example, three cells producing a complete facial expression.
65 Citations
7 Claims
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1. Apparatus for providing facial image animation comprising:
- a plurality of image forming units each with at least a portion of a facial expression corresponding to a spoken phoneme;
means for visually displaying images received from said forming units; and
means for selectively activating different pluralities of said image forming units in any of a plurality of different orders to provide correspondingly different facial expression sequences. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- a plurality of image forming units each with at least a portion of a facial expression corresponding to a spoken phoneme;
Specification