Muscle-driven modeling of wrinkles for 3D facial expressions

Facial expression animation considering wrinkle formation is an aspiring goal and a challenging task. This paper presents a new geometric wrinkle model that is defined according to facial muscle anatomy for efficient simulation of dynamic wrinkles within expressions. Our method is applied to an anatomy-based face model with a multi-layer structure of skin, muscles, and skull. The location and orientation of the wrinkles are automatically determined based on muscle contraction and its influence on the skin. Corresponding to two types of facial muscles, the geometric wrinkle model governs evolution of wrinkle amplitude in the local deformed face regions. It provides intuitive parameters for easy control over wrinkle characteristics by taking into account the properties of real wrinkles. Results show that this method enables realistic wrinkles synchronized with facial movements to be dynamically simulated and rendered at an interactive rate.