Example-Based Rendering of Eye Movements

This paper describes a model for example-based, photo-realistic rendering of eye movements in 3D facial animation. Based on 3D scans of a face with different gaze directions, the model captures the motion of the eyeball along with the deformation of the eyelids and the surrounding skin. These deformations are represented in a 3D morphable model. Unlike the standard procedure in facial animation, the eyeball is not modeled as a rotating 3D sphere located behind the skin surface. Instead, the visible region of the eyeball is part of a continuous face mesh, and displacements of the iris as well as occlusions by the lids are modeled in a texture mapping approach. The algorithm avoids artifacts that are widely encountered in 3D facial animation, and it presents a new concept of handling occlusions and discontinuities in morphing algorithms.