Creating an avatar with a smartphone camera

EPFL researchers have developed a system allowing to create a fully personalized 3D facial avatar from a video taken with your smartphone. Researchers at EPFL’s Computer Graphics and Geometry Laboratory have developed a new technology allowing smartphone users to generate their animated digital double just by taking a video and a couple of selfies. “All […]

EPFL researchers have developed a system allowing to create a fully personalized 3D facial avatar from a video taken with your smartphone.

Researchers at EPFL’s Computer Graphics and Geometry Laboratory have developed a new technology allowing smartphone users to generate their animated digital double just by taking a video and a couple of selfies. “All you have to do is take a video of yourself and then snap a few more shots to get facial expressions, and our algorithm does the rest,” explains researcher Alexandru Ichim in a press release. While creating an avatar is extremely easy for the user, condensing an expensive and complex process to use only a smartphone camera was a real challenge for the researchers.

This innovative technology has a number of possible applications in the near future, ranging from gaming and virtual reality to video conferences and even avatar therapy for people suffering from schizophrenia.

Alexandru Ichim and his colleagues will present their project at the 42^nd International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH) taking place in Los Angeles from 9-13 August, which is widely recognized as the most prestigious forum for the publication of computer graphics research.