A wavelet-based facial ageing synthesis method

A facial ageing synthesis (rendering) method based on combination of wavelet transform and texture transplant is proposed in this paper. Firstly, 2D discrete wavelet transform (2D DWT) is performed on ageing templates to extract the high-frequency sub-images and high-pass filtered low-frequency sub-images, which contain the texture characteristic of ageing skin. Then the corresponding sub-images of target facial image are replaced and fused with them, and the transplant of ageing texture towards target face is achieved through wavelet reconstruction. In addition, the average variation of the facial shape between young population and old population is extracted, and imposed onto the target face to enhance the ageing rendering effect. Combining with color rendering technique, an integrated framework for photorealistic facial ageing rendering is designed and implemented. In the experiment, the proposed rendering framework is applied to oriental face, western face and art painting image, and the rendering results show the realistic and impressive effects. Comparing with PCA (principal components analysis)-based method, 3D Morphable model, and ratio image method, this method contributes a solution for the problem of tradeoff between photorealistic effect and easiness to operate for facial ageing rendering.