The digital Emily project: achieving a photorealistic digital actor

Area of Science:

• Computer Graphics
• Digital Animation
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Creating realistic digital humans is challenging.
• The
• uncanny valley
• describes the discomfort felt with near-human replicas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a photorealistic digital facial performance.
• To overcome the limitations of current digital character technology.

Main Methods:

• Utilized high-resolution 3D face scanning (geometry and reflectance) in a light stage.
• Developed a blendshape-based facial animation rig driven by scan data.
• Employed a video-based system for performance capture, motion tracking, and rendering under consistent lighting.

Main Results:

• Achieved highly accurate facial geometry and surface detail, including pores and wrinkles.
• Created a digital facial rig that closely matched scanned expressions.
• Produced a digital performance that minimized the
• uncanny valley
• effect.

Conclusions:

• The Digital Emily Project demonstrated one of the first truly photorealistic digital facial performances.
• Advanced scanning, rigging, and animation techniques can create digital characters indistinguishable from humans.