[humaine news] special issue IEEE CG&A - Digital Human Faces: from Creation to Emotion

[Catherine Pelachaud]

Special Issue on Digitial Human Faces: From Creation to Emotion


/IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications
/Submission deadline: 23 Nov. 2009
Target publication date: July/Aug. 2010

Faces are an important vector of communication. Through facial 
expressions, gaze behaviors, and head movements, faces convey 
information on not only a person’s emotional state and attitude but also 
discursive, pragmatic, and syntactic elements. The expressions result 
from subtle muscular contractions and wrinkle formation, and we perceive 
them through the complex filter of subsurface scattering and other 
nontrivial light reflections.

Lately, there has been much interest in modeling 3D faces and their 
expressions. Research has covered automatic or interactive generation of 
3D geometry as well as rendering and animation techniques. This research 
has numerous applications. One type of application involves the creation 
and animation of virtual actors in films and video games. New rendering 
techniques ensure highly realistic skin models. Motion capture with or 
without markers is applied to animate the body and the face. The quality 
can be precise enough to capture real actor performances as well as the 
slightest movements in emotional expressions.

Another type of application involves the creation of autonomous 
agents—in particular, /embodied conversational agents/ (ECAs), 
autonomous entities with communicative and emotional capabilities. ECAs 
serve as Web assistants, pedagogical agents, or even companions. 
Researchers have proposed models to specify and control ECA behavior.

This special issue will broadly cover domains linked to 3D faces and 
their creation, rendering, and animation. In particular, it aims to 
gather excellent work from the computer graphics and ECA communities. 
Possible topics include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

* /Facial animation/.
* /Face and performance capture/ (marker based or markerless).
* /Geometric modeling of faces/ (automatic or interactive).
* /Face and skin rendering techniques/ (subsurface scattering and
real-time methods).
* /Expressing emotion/. How do you go beyond the expression of the
six basic emotions? How do you represent the large palette of
facial expressions of emotions? How do you model dynamic
expressions? How do you model the expression of empathy?
* /Complex expressions/. Expressions can arise from the blending of
emotions such as the superposition of emotions or the masking of
one emotion by another. Expressions can simultaneously convey
different messages.
* /Communicative expressions/. Faces don’t solely portray emotions;
they convey a variety of communicative functions such as visual
prosody and performative functions. How do you model and represent
such expressions? How do you capture subtle variations in the
production of them? How do you model mechanisms that are
synchronous with speech?
* /Social signals/. Communication is socially embedded. Agents and
virtual actors must be socially aware. People often use smiles and
eyebrow flashes to signal their attitude toward others. How do you
model facial social signals?


Submission Guidelines

Articles should be no more than 8,000 words, with each figure counting 
as 200 words. Cite only the 12 most relevant references, and consider 
providing technical background in sidebars for nonexpert readers. Color 
images are preferable and should be limited to 10. Visit /CG&A/ style 
and length guidelines at www.computer.org/cga/author.html 
<http://www.computer.org/cga/author.html>.

Please submit your article using the online manuscript submission 
service at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cs-ieee. When uploading your 
article, select the appropriate special-issue title under the category 
“Manuscript Type.” Also include complete contact information for all 
authors. If you have any questions about submitting your article, 
contact the peer review coordinator at cga-ma at computer.org 
<mailto:cga-ma at computer.org>.


Questions?

Please direct any correspondence before submission to the guest editors:

* Catherine Pelachaud, catherine.pelachaud at telecom-paristech.fr
<mailto:catherine.pelachaud at telecom-paristech.fr>
* Tamy Boubekeur, tamy.boubekeur at telecom-paristech.fr
<mailto:tamy.boubekeur at telecom-paristech.fr>

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http://www.tsi.enst.fr/~pelachau   catherine.pelachaud at telecom-paristech.fr
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