Caricature generator

Abstract

The human face is a highly significant visual display which we are able to remember and recognize easily despite the fact that we are exposed to thousands of faces which may be metrically very similar. caricature is a graphical coding of facial features which seeks to be more like the face than the face itself: selected information is exaggerated, noise is reduced, and the processes involved in recognition are exploited. After studying the methods of caricaturists, examining perceptual phenomena regarding individuating features, and surveying automatic and man-machine systems which represent and manipulate the face, some heuristics for caricature are defined . An algorithm is implemented to amplify the nuance of a human face in a computer- generated caricature. This is done by comparing the face to a norm and then distorting the face even further away from that norm . Issues of style, context and animation are discussed. The applications of the caricature generator in the areas of teleconferencing, games, and interactive graphic interfaces are explored.