Facial Muscle Activations from Motion Capture

Biomechanically accurate finite element models of facial musculature offer a superior accuracy in reproducing facial expressions. We employ such a finite element simulation model to determine the muscle activations and kinematic configuration of the rigid bones associated with an expression from a sparse sampling of the deformation of the face surface over time, acquired using a motion capture system. Our simulation model, consisting of 840K tetrahedral elements, was created through non-rigid registration of a muscle geometry template derived from the visible human dataset to MRI volumetric data acquired from the motion capture subject.