3D Facial animation techniques: A potential solution for 2D cartoons?

This paper investigates how the 3D facial animation techniques can be exploited within the specific framework of 2D cartoon production. An overview of the most representative 3D facial animation techniques is first presented. Physical modeling, free form deformations, direct face parameterizations and controller-based approaches are identified and discussed in detail. From this critical analysis of the literature, we selected for evaluation purposes two different controller-based approaches: RBF- and wire-based deformations. Experimental results have been carried out on a corpus of 3D face models with both neutral and target expressions available. The RBF-based techniques provide smoother and more stable deformation fields at a lower modeling effort than the wire-based approaches. Both methods are appropriate for achieving 2D/3D deformation and automating the 2D cartoon production.