MPEG-4 facial animation technology: Survey, implementation, and results

The emerging MPEG-4 standard specifies an object-based audiovisual representation framework, integrating both natural and synthetic content. Tools supporting three-dimensional facial animation will be standardized for the first time. To support facial animation decoders with different degrees of complexity, MPEG-4 uses a profiling strategy, which foresees the specification of object types, profiles, and levels adequate to the various relevant application classes. This paper first gives an overview of the MPEG-4 facial animation technology. Subsequently, the paper describes the Institute Superior Tecnico implementation of an MPEG-4 facial animation system, then briefly evaluates the performance of the various tools standardized, using the MPEG-4 test material.