A Linear Approach to Face Shape and Texture Recovery using a 3D Morphable Model

In this paper, we present a robust and efficient method to statistically recover the full 3D shape and texture of faces from single 2D images. We separate shape and texture recovery into two linear problems. For shape recovery, we learn empirically the generalization error of a 3D morphable model using out-of-sample data. We use this to predict the 2D variance associated with a sparse set of 2D feature points. This knowledge is incorporated into a parameter-free probabilistic framework which allows 3D shape recovery of a face in an arbitrary pose in a single step. Under the assumption of diffuseonly reflectance, we also show how photometric invariants can be used to recover texture parameters in an illumination insensitive manner. We present empirical results with comparison to the state-of-the-art analysis-by-synthesis methods and show an application of our approach to adjusting the pose of subjects in oil paintings.