As-rigid-as-possible image registration for hand-drawn cartoon animations

We present a new approach to deformable image registration suitable for articulated images such as hand-drawn cartoon characters and human postures. For such type of data state-of-the-art techniques typically yield undesirable results. We propose a novel geometrically motivated iterative scheme where point movements are decoupled from shape consistency. By combining locally optimal block matching with as-rigid-as-possible shape regularization, our algorithm allows us to register images undergoing large free-form deformations and appearance variations. We demonstrate its practical usability in various challenging tasks performed in the cartoon animation production pipeline including unsupervised inbetweening, example-based shape deformation, auto-painting, editing, and motion retargeting. CR Categories: I.4.3 [Image Processing and Computer Vision]: Enhancement—Registration; I.3.4 [Computer Graphics]: Graphics Utilities—Graphics editors; J.5 [Computer Applications]: Arts and Humanit...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: NPAR
• Authors: Daniel Sýkora, John Dingliana, Steven Collins
• Keywords: As-rigid-as-possible Shape Regularization, Example-based Shape Deformation, Hand-drawn Cartoon Characters, NPAR 2009, Visualization