Forensic Facial Reconstruction Using Mesh Template Deformation with Detail Transfer over HRBF

Abstract

Forensic facial reconstruction is the application of anthropology, art and forensic science to recreate the face of an individual from his skull. It is usually done manually by a sculptor with clay and is considered a subjective technique as it relies upon an artistic interpretation of the skull features. In this work, we propose a computerized method based on anatomical rules that systematically generates the surface of the face through a HRBF deformation procedure over a mesh template. Our main contributions are a broader set of anatomical rules being applied over the soft tissue structures and a new deformation method that dissociates the details from the overall shape of the model.