To build photorealistic avatars that users can embody, human modelling must be complete (cover the full body), driveable (able to reproduce the current motion and appearance from the user), and generalizable (i.e., easily adaptable to novel identities).Towards these goals, paired captures, that is, captures of the same subject obtained from systems of diverse quality and availability, are crucial.However, paired captures are rarely available to researchers outside of dedicated industrial labs: Codec Avatar Studio is our proposal to close this gap.Towards generalization and driveability, we introduce a dataset of 256 subjects captured in two modalities: high resolution multi-view scans of their heads, and video from the internal cameras of a headset.Towards completeness, we introduce a dataset of 4 subjects captured in eight modalities: high quality relightable multi-view captures of heads and hands, full body multi-view captures with minimal and regular clothes, and corresponding head, hands and body phone captures.Together with our data, we also provide code and pre-trained models for different state-of-the-art human generation models.Our datasets and code are available at https://github.com/facebookresearch/ava-256 and https://github.com/facebookresearch/goliath.

This paper proposes an ensemble of invariant features (EIFs), which can properly handle the variations of color difference and human poses/viewpoints for matching pedestrian images observed in different cameras with nonoverlapping field of views. Our proposed method is a direct reidentification (re-id) method, which requires no prior domain learning based on prelabeled corresponding training data. The novel features consist of the holistic and region-based features. The holistic features are extracted by using a publicly available pretrained deep convolutional neural network used in generic object classification. In contrast, the region-based features are extracted based on our proposed two-way Gaussian mixture model fitting, which overcomes the self-occlusion and pose variations. To make a better generalization during recognizing identities without additional learning, the ensemble scheme aggregates all the feature distances using the similarity normalization. The proposed framework achieves robustness against partial occlusion, pose, and viewpoint changes. Moreover, the evaluation results show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art direct re-id methods on the challenging benchmark viewpoint invariant pedestrian recognition and 3D people surveillance data sets.

We present a scene adaptation algorithm for object detection. Our method discovers scene-dependent features discriminative to classifying foreground objects into different categories. Unlike previous works suffering from insufficient training data collected online, our approach incorporated with a similarity grouping procedure can automatically gather more consistent training examples from a neighbour area. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms several related works with higher detection accuracies.

We propose an ensemble of invariant features for person re-identification. The proposed method requires no domain learning and can effectively overcome the issues created by the variations of human poses and viewpoint between a pair of different cameras. Our ensemble model utilizes both holistic and region-based features. To avoid the misalignment problem, the test human object sample is used to generate multiple virtual samples, by applying slight geometric distortion. The holistic features are extracted from a publically available pre-trained deep convolutional neural network. On the other hand, the region-based features are based on our proposed Two-Way Gaussian Mixture Model Fitting and the Completed Local Binary Pattern texture representations. To make better generalization during the matching without additional learning processes for the feature aggregation, the ensemble scheme combines all three feature distances using distances normalization. The proposed framework achieves robustness against partial occlusion, pose and viewpoint changes. In addition, the experimental results show that our method exceeds the state of the art person re-identification performance based on the challenging benchmark 3DPeS.

This paper presents an effective approach for detecting abandoned luggage in surveillance videos. We combine short- and long-term background models to extract foreground objects, where each pixel in an input image is classified as a 2-bit code. Subsequently, we introduce a framework to identify static foreground regions based on the temporal transition of code patterns, and to determine whether the candidate regions contain abandoned objects by analyzing the back-traced trajectories of luggage owners. The experimental results obtained based on video images from 2006 Performance Evaluation of Tracking and Surveillance and 2007 Advanced Video and Signal-based Surveillance databases show that the proposed approach is effective for detecting abandoned luggage, and that it outperforms previous methods.

This paper presents i-m-Cave, a multitouch tabletop system for virtually touring the Mogao Caves. To recreate the experience of such a tour, a field study was conducted, and identified two key design considerations - exploration and restoration. For exploration, an innovative tangible figurine that can perform human-like neck extension/flexion is developed, and users can control the figurine to freely visit every corner of the virtual caves. Furthermore, users can view authorized animations to better understand the story behind important artifacts. With respect to restoration, users can restore digital artifacts and observe the rejuvenation and aging of artifacts with midair hand gestures and mobile devices, as if the users were shuttling back and forth between the present and the past. The i-m-Cave system presents the relationships between presently damaged artifacts and their virtually restored versions, which cannot be experienced in a real tour. Finally, the system was evaluated by interviewing experts. User feedback was positive, indicating the value of the system and its design.

In this work, we develop an appearance-based gaze tracking system allowing user to move their head freely. The main difficulty of the appearance-based gaze tracking method is that the eye appearance is sensitive to head orientation. To overcome the difficulty, we propose a 3-D gaze tracking method combining head pose tracking and appearance-based gaze estimation. We use a random forest approach to model the neighbor structure of the joint head pose and eye appearance space, and efficiently select neighbors from the collected high dimensional data set. L1-optimization is then used to seek for the best solution for regression from the selected neighboring samples. Experiment results shows that it can provide robust binocular gaze tracking results with less constraints but still provides moderate estimation accuracy of gaze estimation.

We present an abandoned object detection system in this paper. A finite-state-machine model is introduced to extract stationary foregrounds in a scene for visual surveillance, where the state value of each pixel is inferred via the cooperation of short-term and long-term background models constructed in the proposed approach. To identify the left-luggage event, we then verify whether the static foregrounds are abandoned objects through the analysis of owner's moving trajectory back-tracked to the static foreground locations. Experimental results reveal that the proposed approach tackles the problem well on publicly available datasets.

Large-area, high-resolution visual monitoring systems are indispensable in surveillance applications. To construct such systems, high-quality image capture and display devices are required. Whereas high-quality displays have rapidly developed, as exemplified by the announcement of the 85-inch 4K ultrahigh-definition TV by Samsung at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), high-resolution surveillance cameras have progressed slowly and remain not widely used compared with displays. In this study, we designed an innovative framework, using a dual-camera system comprising a wide-angle fixed camera and a high-resolution pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera to construct a large-area, multilayered, and high-resolution visual monitoring system that features multiresolution monitoring of moving objects. First, we developed a novel calibration approach to estimate the relationship between the two cameras and calibrate the PTZ camera. The PTZ camera was calibrated based on the consistent property of distinct pan-tilt angle at various zooming factors, accelerating the calibration process without affecting accuracy; this calibration process has not been reported previously. After calibrating the dual-camera system, we used the PTZ camera and synthesized a large-area and high-resolution background image. When foreground targets were detected in the images captured by the wide-angle camera, the PTZ camera was controlled to continuously track the user-selected target. Last, we integrated preconstructed high-resolution background and low-resolution foreground images captured using the wide-angle camera and the high-resolution foreground image captured using the PTZ camera to generate a large-area, multilayered, and high-resolution view of the scene.

Nowadays, ever expanding camera network makes it difficult to find the suspect from lengthy video records. This paper proposes a target-driven video summarization framework which provides two-step Filtered Summarized Video (FSV) for tracing suspects. Before the target is identified, users can find the target efficiently using the firststep FSV of any arbitrary camera. The first-step FSV filters all the attributes of the target including the time information and the target's categories. After identifying the target, the second-step FSV with additional spatio-temporal & appearance cues are triggered in the neighbor cameras. To enhance the accuracy of the object classification for FSV, we propose a Perspective Dependent Model (PDM) which consists of many grid-based models. Finally, the experimental results show that grid-based model is more robust than general detectors and the user study demonstrates better performance for target finding and tracking in camera network for surveillance.

We propose a tampering detection method using two-stage scene matching for real application with high efficiency and low false alarm rate. In the first stage, we use the intensity of edges as the main cue to detect the camera tampering events. Instead of using the entire edge points of the images, we sample the most significant edge points to represent the scene. Analyzing the edge variation with only the sample points, we discover that the events of camera tampering can be detected with low computation cost. Whenever the first stage detects the tampering event, the second stage is triggered to reduce false alarms. In the second stage, we propose an illumination change detector which can check the consistency of the scene structure using cell-based matching method. The experimental results demonstrate that our system can detect the camera tampering precisely and minimize false alarm even when the illumination changes dramatically or large crowds passing through the scene.

To achieve maximum mobility, device-less approaches for home appliance remote control have received increasing attention in recent years. In this paper, we propose a screen-less virtual touch panel, called AirTouch Panel, which can be positioned at any place with various orientations around users. The proposed virtual touch panel provides a potential ability to remotely control the home appliances, such as television, air conditioner, and so on. The proposed system allows users to anchor the panel at the place with comfortable poses. If the users want to change panel's position or orientation, they only need to re-anchor it, and then the panel will be reset. In this paper, our main contribution is to design a re-anchorable virtual panel for digital home remote control. Most importantly, we explore the design of such imaginary interface through two user studies. In our user studies, we analyze task completion time, satisfaction rate, and the number of miss-clicks. We are interested in the feasibility issues, for example, proper click gesture, panel size and button size, etc. Moreover, based on the AirTouch Panel, we also developed an intelligent TV to demonstrate the usability for controlling home appliance.

Face alignment and head pose estimation has become a thriving research field with various applications for the past decade. Several approaches process on 2D texture image but most of them perform decently only with small pose variation. Recently, many approaches apply depth information to align objects. However, applications are restricted because depth cameras are more expensive than common cameras, and many original image resources contain no depth information. Therefore, we propose a 3D face alignment algorithm in 2D image based on Active Shape Model, and use Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) descriptors as local texture model. We train a 3D shape model with different view-based local texture models from a 3D database, and then fit a face in a 2D image by these models. We also improve the performance by two-stage search strategy. Furthermore, the head pose can be estimated by the alignment result of the proposed 3D model. Finally, we demonstrate some applications applied by our method.

In this paper, we propose a human-marionette interaction system based on a human action recognition approach for applications to interactive artistic puppetry and a mimicking-marionette game. We developed an intelligent marionette called "i-marionette" that is controlled by a sophisticated control device to achieve various human actions. Moreover, we utilized an action recognition approach to enable the i-marionette to learn and recognize complex dance movements. The idea of artistic puppetry is to present a conflict scenario between two different cultural worlds: the performer is active and represents the culture of modern technology based in the real world. In contrast, the i-marionette represents traditional culture and is passive and based in a virtual world. The active performer guides the passive i-marionette to form a space-time connection between the real world and the virtual world. The i-marionette mimics the performer's action, while the performer also mimics the i-marionette's action. The performance represents an artistic conception in which humans invent technology and the i-marionette is manipulated by human control. However, in this interactive circle, the human is implicitly affected by the i-marionette. In our mimicking-marionette game, a player mimics the i-marionette's action. Subsequently, our human action recognition system measures the action similarity between the player and the i-marionette, and our system provides a similarity score.

We propose a viewpoint-independent object-detection algorithm that detects objects in videos based on their 2-D and 3-D information. Object-specific quasi-3-D templates are proposed and applied to match objects' 2-D contours and to calculate their 3-D sizes. A quasi-3-D template is the contour and the 3-D bounding cube of an object viewed from a certain panning and tilting angle. Pedestrian templates amounting to 2660 and 1995 vehicle templates encompassing 19 tilting and 35 panning angles are used in this study. To detect objects, we first match the 2-D contours of object candidates with known objects' contours, and some object templates with large 2-D contour-matching scores are identified. In this step, we exploit some prior knowledge on the viewpoint on which the object is viewed to speed up the template matching, and the viewpoint likelihood for each contour-matched template is also assigned. Then, we calculate the 3-D widths, heights, and lengths of the contour-matched candidates, as well as the corresponding 3-D-size-matching scores. The overall matching score is obtained by combining the aforementioned likelihood and scores. The major contributions of this paper are to explore the joint use of 2-D and 3-D features in object detection. It shows that, by considering 2-D contours and 3-D sizes, one can achieve promising object detection rates. The proposed algorithms were evaluated on both pedestrian and vehicle sequences. It yielded significantly better detection results than the best results reported in PETS 2009, showing that our algorithm outperformed the state-of-the-art pedestrian-detection algorithms.