Comparing a single target image with a reference three-dimensional (3D) virtual avatar of a real person

The demand for analyzing images from sources such as closed-circuit television cameras has increased significantly. Conventional analyses, including gait and soft biometrics, typically require the comparison of two video footage clips, as these methods are predicated on video-to-video comparisons. Moreover, numerous prerequisites often limit their applicability, particularly in the field of gait biometrics. To address these limitations, this paper introduces a simple yet effective image-to-person comparison method, leveraging image reproduction from a structure from motion (SfM)/photogrammetry-based three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics reference virtual avatar. This avatar is generated from a reference real person. It is demonstrated that the proposed method, by applying 3D joint manipulations to the reference virtual avatar, qualitatively reproduces a person captured in a target image with high fidelity. Furthermore, quantitative silhouette comparisons successfully confirm distributions for forensic image-to-person comparison. The proposed method holds promise as a body shape-based forensic image-to-person comparison tool in scenarios where a real person can be used as a reference.