Estimating facial pose using shape-from-shading

This paper reports the application of a recently developed shape-from-shading technique to estimate facial pose. The shape-from-shading algorithm uses a new geometric technique for solving the image irradiance equation together with curvature consistency constraints. Orientation histograms extracted from the the needle-maps delivered by the new shape-from-shading algorithm are used to estimate facial pose. We present a simple model of how the histogram bincontents transform under rotation of the head. The parameters of this model are the head pose angles. We estimate pose by searching for the rotation angles which maximise the correlation between transformed histograms. A sensitivity analysis reveals that the methods can deliver pose estimates that are accurate within a few degrees.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2002
• Where: PRL
• Authors: Kwang Nam Choi, Philip L. Worthington, Edwin R. Hancock
• Keywords: Facial Pose, Image Irradiance Equation, PRL 2002, Shape-from-shading Algorithm