# NARRATE: A Normal Assisted Free-View Portrait Stylizer

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.00974 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.00974/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 44 of its 75 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 Jul 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 44)

- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.04948/) (2018)
- [Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.00667/) (2022)
- [Image-to-Image Translation with Conditional Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.07004/) (2016)
- [Analyzing and Improving the Image Quality of StyleGAN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.04958/) (2019)
- [Perceptual Losses for Real-Time Style Transfer and Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.08155/) (2016)
- [NeuS: Learning Neural Implicit Surfaces by Volume Rendering for Multi-view Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.10689/) (2021)
- [Efficient Geometry-aware 3D Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07945/) (2021)
- [Alias-Free Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12423/) (2021)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis and Semantic Manipulation with Conditional GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.11585/) (2017)
- [Accelerating 3D Deep Learning with PyTorch3D](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.08501/) (2020)
- [pi-GAN: Periodic Implicit Generative Adversarial Networks for 3D-Aware Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.00926/) (2020)
- [First Order Motion Model for Image Animation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.00196/) (2020)
- [Interpreting the Latent Space of GANs for Semantic Face Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.10786/) (2019)
- [Designing an Encoder for StyleGAN Image Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.02766/) (2021)
- [A Neural Algorithm of Artistic Style](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1508.06576/) (2015)
- [Learning an Animatable Detailed 3D Face Model from In-The-Wild Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.04012/) (2020)
- [StyleNeRF: A Style-based 3D-Aware Generator for High-resolution Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.08985/) (2021)
- [One-Shot Free-View Neural Talking-Head Synthesis for Video Conferencing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.15126/) (2020)
- [Pivotal Tuning for Latent-based Editing of Real Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.05744/) (2021)
- [Closed-Form Factorization of Latent Semantics in GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.06600/) (2020)
- [Generative Visual Manipulation on the Natural Image Manifold](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.03552/) (2016)
- [StyleSDF: High-Resolution 3D-Consistent Image and Geometry Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.11427/) (2021)
- [Few-Shot Adversarial Learning of Realistic Neural Talking Head Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.08233/) (2019)
- [StyleRig: Rigging StyleGAN for 3D Control over Portrait Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.00121/) (2020)
- [Few-shot Video-to-Video Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.12713/) (2019)
- [MoFA: Model-based Deep Convolutional Face Autoencoder for Unsupervised Monocular Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.10580/) (2017)
- [Single Image Portrait Relighting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.00824/) (2019)
- [CIPS-3D: A 3D-Aware Generator of GANs Based on Conditionally-Independent Pixel Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.09788/) (2021)
- [Face Alignment in Full Pose Range: A 3D Total Solution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.01005/) (2018)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [High-fidelity 3D GAN Inversion by Pseudo-multi-view Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.15662/) (2022)
- [Real-time 3D-aware Portrait Editing from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.14000/) (2024)
- [DisCO: Portrait Distortion Correction with Perspective-Aware 3D GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.12253/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In this work, we propose NARRATE, a novel pipeline that enables simultaneously editing portrait lighting and perspective in a photorealistic manner. As a hybrid neural-physical face model, NARRATE leverages complementary benefits of geometry-aware generative approaches and normal-assisted physical face models. In a nutshell, NARRATE first inverts the input portrait to a coarse geometry and employs neural rendering to generate images resembling the input, as well as producing convincing pose changes. However, inversion step introduces mismatch, bringing low-quality images with less facial details. As such, we further estimate portrait normal to enhance the coarse geometry, creating a high-fidelity physical face model. In particular, we fuse the neural and physical renderings to compensate for the imperfect inversion, resulting in both realistic and view-consistent novel perspective images. In relighting stage, previous works focus on single view portrait relighting but ignoring consistency between different perspectives as well, leading unstable and inconsistent lighting effects for view changes. We extend Total Relighting to fix this problem by unifying its multi-view input normal maps with the physical face model. NARRATE conducts relighting with consistent normal maps, imposing cross-view constraints and exhibiting stable and coherent illumination effects. We experimentally demonstrate that NARRATE achieves more photorealistic, reliable results over prior works. We further bridge NARRATE with animation and style transfer tools, supporting pose change, light change, facial animation, and style transfer, either separately or in combination, all at a photographic quality. We showcase vivid free-view facial animations as well as 3D-aware relightable stylization, which help facilitate various AR/VR applications like virtual cinematography, 3D video conferencing, and post-production.