February 14th
Due to my interest and practise into human faces I decided I would like to see what collaboration could happen between LJMU Face lab and myself. An informal talk was arranged at Face lab by Mark Roughley. Mark Roughley is a research assistant at Face lab, as well as a Lecturer on the Art in Science MA course.
Face lab is situated at IC1 Liverpool Science Park, a short walk away from The John Lennon Art and Design building. Established in 2014, LJMU Face Lab carries out forensic research, archaeological investigation and consultancy work.
The Face lab team produces work in craniofacial analysis, which helps to identify unknown bodies in forensic investigation, or archaeological depiction of historical figures. Robert Bruce, hero-king of Scots is a famous example of the groups archaeological depictions.
Face lab performs research relating to CCTV identification, postmortem decomposition, ancestry determination, craniofacial reconstruction, preserved bodies and facial animation.
Professor Caroline Wilkinson, Director of Face lab, is accredited as a forensic anthropologist Level 1 (craniofacial specialism) by the Royal Anthropological institute (RAI).
The group makes its research accessible through public engagement and exhibition contribution.
Other interested parties also attended the talk, Alex Emmett and Angie Smith. A discussion took place to see where a collaborate project could lead to. Mainly discussing our interests, practise and skills. Mark discussed Face labs current research agendas. The main current research agenda is facial animation. The Face lab team are looking to animate the faces of forensic reconstructions in time. What Face lab could offer me and what I could offer face lab was also a key talking point.
Two options were discussed between Mark and myself. One was to research and create a better skin shader, allowing for different ethnicities and skin profiles. The second option was facial animation. Conducting research into emotive 3D digital faces.
Chris Baker, facial animator at Face lab, has been conducting research into anatomically accurate 3D eyes. 3D eyes that can dilate, constrict and change the colour of the Iris by user input.
It was provisionally decided between myself, Mark and Chris that I would conduct a collaborative project between involving Chris and I. Chris would continue research into 3D eyes, I would take the eyes Chris has created and conduct research into animating the soft tissue around the eye.
Friday February 17th
A talk was arranged between Myself, Mark and Chris. Within the talk a discussion took place to propose what the project collaboration could entail in more depth.
It was provisionally decided between myself, Mark and Chris that I would conduct a collaborative project involving Chris and I. Chris would continue research into 3D eyes, I would take the eyes Chris has created and conduct research into animating the soft tissue around the eye.
To begin the research, we would need to research the theory of facial expressions and the human face. It was mutually accepted that to further the research we would need to engage other people in different specialties as the project progressed.
Professor Stephen Fairclough was highlighted by myself. Professor Fairclough is a Professor of Psychophysiology in the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology at LJMU. He has an academic background covering neurosciences, psychophysiology and human computer interaction. Professor Fairclough is also on the scientific board of Emteq Ltd. Faceteq is a facial sensing platform, providing a platform to measure emotions through facial gestures and biometric responses.
Dr Ralph Pawling was highlighted by Mark. A lecturer that Face lab has had dealings with in the past. Dr Pawling is a Lecturer in the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology at LJMU, with an interest in facial and emotion mimicry.
Micro expressions of the face were brought up in the discussion. Micro expressions are rapid movements of facial muscles, which is some psychological theories are tied to underlying emotions. Micro expressions are theorised to occur when people have hidden their emotional state of trying to conceal their emotions form other people.
Paul Ekman – Micro Expressions
Mark scanned my face using Face labs Artec spider scanner. This is a scanner that face lab use to scan skulls with high precision in the facial reconstruction process.
Face scan of my face in ZBrush.
