Appealing Female Avatars from 3D Body Scans: Perceptual Effects of Stylization

Reuben Fleming, Betty J. Mohler, Javier Romero, Michael J. Black, Martin Breidt

2016

Abstract

Advances in 3D scanning technology allow us to create realistic virtual avatars from full body 3D scan data. However, negative reactions to some realistic computer generated humans suggest that this approach might not always provide the most appealing results. Using styles derived from existing popular character designs, we present a novel automatic stylization technique for body shape and colour information based on a statistical 3D model of human bodies. We investigate whether such stylized body shapes result in increased perceived appeal with two different experiments: One focuses on body shape alone, the other investigates the additional role of surface colour and lighting. Our results consistently show that the most appealing avatar is a partially stylized one. Importantly, avatars with high stylization or no stylization at all were rated to have the least appeal. The inclusion of colour information and improvements to render quality had no significant effect on the overall perceived appeal of the avatars, and we observe that the body shape primarily drives the change in appeal ratings. For body scans with colour information, we found that a partially stylized avatar was most effective, increasing average appeal ratings by approximately 34%.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Fleming R., Mohler B., Romero J., Black M. and Breidt M. (2016). Appealing Female Avatars from 3D Body Scans: Perceptual Effects of Stylization . In Proceedings of the 11th Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: GRAPP, (VISIGRAPP 2016) ISBN 978-989-758-175-5, pages 335-345. DOI: 10.5220/0005683903330343

in Bibtex Style

@conference{grapp16,
author={Reuben Fleming and Betty J. Mohler and Javier Romero and Michael J. Black and Martin Breidt},
title={Appealing Female Avatars from 3D Body Scans: Perceptual Effects of Stylization},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 11th Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: GRAPP, (VISIGRAPP 2016)},
year={2016},
pages={335-345},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0005683903330343},
isbn={978-989-758-175-5},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 11th Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: GRAPP, (VISIGRAPP 2016)
TI - Appealing Female Avatars from 3D Body Scans: Perceptual Effects of Stylization
SN - 978-989-758-175-5
AU - Fleming R.
AU - Mohler B.
AU - Romero J.
AU - Black M.
AU - Breidt M.
PY - 2016
SP - 335
EP - 345
DO - 10.5220/0005683903330343