3D-Computerized facial reconstructions from 3D-MRI of human heads using deformable model approach

Abstract

The aim of facial reconstruction is to estimate the face of an unknown individual from the shape of his/her skull to aid in recognition and identification. In this paper a 3D computerized facial reconstruction method from 3D-MRI of human heads is presented. It based on a model deformable approach constrained by the knowledge of soft tissues thicknesses, at a certain number of characteristic landmarks. The facial reconstruction process is divided into two main stages. An automatic initialization step of the deformable model is based on a non-linear registration technique guided by B-Spline Free-Form Deformations (FFD) model. In the second step, the initial skin, resulting from the transformation computed previously, is refined by means of a 3D deform-able model based on simplexes meshes that is attracted by some characteristic landmarks previously computed by a calculation of Mean and Gaussian curvatures. The evolution of the deformable model is done according to different internal and external forces among which the Gradient Vectors Flow force (GVF) and a balloon force. This method has been tested on thirteen sets of skull/skin data, extracted from 3D-MRI of individual heads of children and adults.