Patent ID: 7123262
Filing Date: 2006-10-17
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A method of animating a synthesized model of a human face driven by an audio driving signal, comprising an analytic phase, in which an alphabet of low level visemes is determined, and a synthesis phase, in which the audio driving signal is converted into a sequence of low level visemes applied to a model, wherein said analytic phase comprises the steps of extracting both a set of information representing a shape of a speaker's face and corresponding sequences of phonetic units from a set of audio training signals; compressing said set of information into active shape model parameter vectors representative of phonetic units; associating to said active shape model parameter vectors representative of phonetic units an interpolation function to provide a continuous representation of movement between phonemes, wherein said interpolation function is a convex combination having combination coefficients variable as a continuous function of time whereby said association determines said alphabet of low level visemes; associating low level parameters of facial animation, compliant with Standard ISO/IEC 14496 VER. 1, to said low level visemes; wherein said synthesis phase comprises the steps of extracting a sequence of phonetic units of an audio driving signal; associating to said sequence of phonetic units extracted in said synthesis phase a corresponding sequence of low level visemes as determined in the analytic phase; transforming said sequence of low level visemes of said synthesis phase through an interpolation function to provide a continuous representation of movement between phonemes, wherein said interpolation function of said synthesis phase is a convex combination having combination coefficients variable as a continuous function of time; and wherein the combination coefficients carried out in the synthesis phase are the same as those used in the analytic phase.