Face recognition using 3D local geometrical features: PCA vs. SVM

Thirty local geometrical features extracted from 3D hitman face surfaces have been used to model the face for face recognition. They are the most discriminating ones selected from a set of 86. We have experimented with 420 3D-facial meshes (without texture) of 60 individuals. There are 7 images per subject including views presenting fight rotations and facial expressions. The HK algorithm, based in the signs of the mean and Gaussian curvatures, has been used for region segmentation. Experiments under controlled and non-controlled acquisition conditions, considering pose variations and facial expressions, have been achieved to analyze the robustness of the selected characteristics. Success recognition results of 82.0% and 90.16% were obtained when the images are frontal views with neutral expression using PCA and SVM, respectively. The recognition rates only decrease to 76.2% and 77.9% using PCA and SVM matching schemes respectively, under gesture and light face rotation.