Optical flow-based face tracking in The Mummy

Abstract

In The Mummy, much of MPC's work involved augmenting the Ahmanet character with various CG elements. This includes, eye splitting, runes, rotten/torn skin, etc. See Figure 1 for an example. These elements needed to be added on top of a live performance, so tracking a 3D model to Ahamanet's face was necessary. Doing this sort of work isn't uncommon, but with the high volume of shots MPC did for this show, it was clear that some new tools would be necessary to help simplify this process.