Caricature Effect
This AR effect uses facial expression morphing to enhance creative performance and enhance expression by utilizing facial action detection technology.
In order to test and push the limits of a new advanced facial expression technology we designed these 3D facial blend shape deformations to essentially be triggered in tandem by a certain emotion.
We started by testing the most stable facial triggers (ie. if blinking had a high success rate of registering on everyones face we knew we definitely wanted to tie a trigger to it).
I designed this set of facial feature emotions before taking them into 3D. Of course we wanted to represent the basic emotions that most everyone experiences like Happy, Sad, Mad but I opted for a more nuanced and in some cases exaggerated approach. From left to right we have Suspicious, Pouty, Saucy (my personal fav), Bored, Smiley, and Enraged. The former being a more exaggerated and more intense version of the typical Mad, to allow the users a more comical performance opportunity.
This is a line up of some of the facial deformations in 3D. From left to right, Smiley, Shocked, Pouty, and Saucy. We ended up dropping Enraged and opted for Shocked as we realized that the “jaw drop” trigger was more stable for the engine to register and therefor made for a stronger storytelling functionality in the effect.