Morphable guidelines for the human head

Abstract

We present a system to help users achieve better face warping on 2D portrait images. Faces can be difficult to warp accurately because the rotation of the head affects the shape of the facial features. We bypass this problem by utilizing the Loomis 'ball and plane' head drawing method as a proxy structure. The resulting 'morphable guidelines' consist of a simple 3D head model. This proxy model can be reshaped by the user to mimic the positioning and proportions of a face in their input image. The vertices of the model act as deformation points for a 2D image deformation algorithm. Thus, the user can seamlessly transform the face proportions in the 2D image by transforming the proportions of the morphable guidelines. This technique can be used for both retouching and caricature warping purposes, as it is well-suited for both subtle and extreme modifications. Our system is advantageous over previous work in face warping because our morphable guidelines can be used on a wide range of head orientations and do not require the generation and reintegration of a full 3D model.