Avatar reshaping and automatic rigging using a deformable model

3D scans of human figures have become widely available through online marketplaces and have become relatively easy to acquire using commodity scanning hardware. In addition to static uses of such 3D models, such as 3D printed figurines or rendered 3D still imagery, there are numerous uses for an animated 3D character that uses such 3D scan data. In order to effectively use such models as dynamic 3D characters, the models must be properly rigged before they are animated. In this work, we demonstrate a method to automatically rig a 3D mesh by matching a set of morphable models against the 3D scan. Once the morphable model has been matched against the 3D scan, the skeleton position and skinning attributes are then copied, resulting in a skinning and rigging that is similar in quality to the original hand-rigged model. In addition, the use of a morphable model allows us to reshape and resize the 3D scan according to approximate human proportions. Thus, a human 3D scan can be modified to be taller, shorter, fatter or skinnier. Such manipulations of the 3D scan are useful both for social science research, as well as for visualization for applications such as fitness, body image, plastic surgery and the like.