Animating cartoon faces by multi-view drawings

In this paper, we present a novel framework for creating cartoon facial animation from multi-view hand-drawn sketches. The input sketches are first employed to construct a base mesh model by using a hybrid sketch-based method. The model is then deformed for each key viewpoint, yielding a set of models that closely match the corresponding sketches. We introduce a view-dependent facial expression space defined by the key viewpoints and the basic emotions to generate various facial expressions viewed from arbitrary angles. The output facial animation conforms to the input sketches and maintains frame-to-frame correspondence. We demonstrate the potential of our approach through an easy-to-use system, where the animating of cartoon faces is automated once the user accomplishes sketching and configuration. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.