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.

We present a novel performance-driven approach to animating cartoon faces starting from pure 2D drawings. A 3D approximate facial model automatically built from front and side view master frames of character drawings is introduced to enable the animated cartoon faces to be viewed from angles different from that in the input video. The expressive mappings are built by artificial neural network (ANN) trained from the examples of the real face in the video and the cartoon facial drawings in the facial expression graph for a specific character. The learned mapping model makes the resultant facial animation to properly get the desired expressiveness, instead of a mere reproduction of the facial actions in the input video sequence. Furthermore, the lit sphere, capturing the lighting in the painting artwork of faces, is utilized to color the cartoon faces in terms of the 3D approximate facial model, reinforcing the hand-drawn appearance of the resulting facial animation. We made a series of comparative experiments to test the effectiveness of our method by recreating the facial expression in the commercial animation. The comparison results clearly demonstrate the superiority of our method not only in generating high quality cartoon-style facial expressions, but also in speeding up the animation production of cartoon faces. Copyright