Simplified facial animation control utilizing novel input devices: a comparative study

ABSTRACT

Editing facial expressions of virtual characters is quite a complex task. The face is made up of many muscles, which are partly activated concurrently. Virtual faces with human expressiveness are usually designed with a limited amount of facial regulators. Such regulators are derived from the facial muscle parts that are concurrently activated. Common tools for editing such facial expressions use slider-based interfaces where only a single input at a time is possible. Novel input devices, such as gamepads or data gloves, which allow parallel editing, could not only speed up editing, but also simplify the composition of new facial expressions. We created a virtual face with 23 facial controls and connected it with a slider-based GUI, a gamepad, and a data glove. We first conducted a survey with professional graphics designers to find out how the latter two new input devices would be received in a commercial context. A second comparative study with 17 subjects was conducted to analyze the performance and quality of these two new input devices using subjective and objective measurements.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Input devices and strategies (e.g., mouse, touchscreen)

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
data glove, facial expression, gamepad, input device, virtual avatar