| Abstract: | In this article, we proposed a novel teleconferencing system that combines a facial muscle model and the techniques of face detection and facial feature extraction to synthesize a sequence of life‐like face animation. The proposed system can animate realistic 3D face images in a low‐bandwidth environment to support virtual videoconferencing. Based on the technique of feature extraction, a face detection algorithm for the virtual conferencing system is proposed in this article. In the proposed face detection algorithm, the YCbCr skin color model is used to detect the possible face area of the image; the feature points of the face is determined by using the symmetry property of the face and the gray level characteristics of the eyes and the mouth. According to the positions of the feature points on a facial image, we can compute the transformation values of the feature points. These values will then be sent via a network from the sender's side to the receiver's side frame by frame. We can synthesize the realistic facial animations on the receiver's side based on these. Experimental results show that the proposed system can achieve a practical animated face‐to‐face virtual conference with good facial expressions and a low‐bandwidth requirement. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 20, 323–332, 2010 |
