Image synthesis and face recognition based on 3D face model and illumination model

The performance of human face recognition algorithms is seriously affected by two important factors: head pose and lighting condition. The effective processing of the pose and illumination variations is a vital key for improving the recognition rate. This paper proposes a novel method that can synthesize images with different head poses and lighting conditions by using a modified 3D CANDIDE model, linear vertex interpolation and NURBS curve surface fitting method, as well as a mixed illumination model. A specific Eigenface method is also proposed to perform face recognition based on a pre-estimated head pose method. Experimental results show that the quality of the synthesized images and the recognition performance are good.