Unconstrained 3D face reconstruction

This paper presents an algorithm for unconstrained 3D face reconstruction. The input to our algorithm is an “unconstrained” collection of face images captured under a diverse variation of poses, expressions, and illuminations, without meta data about cameras or timing. The output of our algorithm is a true 3D face surface model represented as a watertight triangulated surface with albedo data or texture information. 3D face reconstruction from a collection of unconstrained 2D images is a long-standing computer vision problem. Motivated by the success of the state-of-the-art method, we developed a novel photometric stereo-based method with two distinct novelties. First, working with a true 3D model allows us to enjoy the benefits of using images from all possible poses, including profiles. Second, by leveraging emerging face alignment techniques and our novel normal field-based Laplace editing, a combination of landmark constraints and photometric stereo-based normals drives our surface reconstruction. Given large photo collections and a ground truth 3D surface, we demonstrate the effectiveness and strength of our algorithm both qualitatively and quantitatively.