# Anatomically Constrained Implicit Face Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.07538 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.07538/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 25 of its 56 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 12 Dec 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 25 of 25)

- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [DeepSDF: Learning Continuous Signed Distance Functions for Shape Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.05103/) (2019)
- [Implicit Neural Representations with Periodic Activation Functions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.09661/) (2020)
- [On the Continuity of Rotation Representations in Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.07035/) (2018)
- [Learning an Animatable Detailed 3D Face Model from In-The-Wild Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.04012/) (2020)
- [3D Morphable Face Models -- Past, Present and Future](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.01815/) (2019)
- [Generating 3D faces using Convolutional Mesh Autoencoders](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.10267/) (2018)
- [I M Avatar: Implicit Morphable Head Avatars from Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07471/) (2021)
- [PointAvatar: Deformable Point-based Head Avatars from Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.08377/) (2022)
- [NASA: Neural Articulated Shape Approximation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.03207/) (2019)
- [Vid2Avatar: 3D Avatar Reconstruction from Videos in the Wild via Self-supervised Scene Decomposition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.11566/) (2023)
- [i3DMM: Deep Implicit 3D Morphable Model of Human Heads](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.14143/) (2020)
- [Learning Formation of Physically-Based Face Attributes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.03458/) (2020)
- [Neural 3D Morphable Models: Spiral Convolutional Networks for 3D Shape Representation Learning and Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.02876/) (2019)
- [NPMs: Neural Parametric Models for 3D Deformable Shapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.00702/) (2021)
- [SpiralNet++: A Fast and Highly Efficient Mesh Convolution Operator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.05856/) (2019)
- [Learning Neural Parametric Head Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.02761/) (2022)
- [ImFace: A Nonlinear 3D Morphable Face Model with Implicit Neural Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.14510/) (2022)
- [Fully Convolutional Mesh Autoencoder using Efficient Spatially Varying Kernels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.04325/) (2020)
- [Neural reparameterization improves structural optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.04240/) (2019)
- [Preface: A Data-driven Volumetric Prior for Few-shot Ultra High-resolution Face Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.16859/) (2023)
- [REALY: Rethinking the Evaluation of 3D Face Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.09729/) (2022)
- [Learning Feature Aggregation for Deep 3D Morphable Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.02173/) (2021)
- [A Large-Scale 3D Face Mesh Video Dataset via Neural Re-parameterized Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.03205/) (2023)
- [Hierarchical Neural Implicit Pose Network for Animation and Motion Retargeting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.00958/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Neural Face Skinning for Mesh-agnostic Facial Expression Cloning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.22416/) (2025)
- [BFSM: 3D Bidirectional Face-Skull Morphable Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.24577/) (2025)
- [GNM Head: A Generative aNthropometric Model of the human head](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.23687/) (2026)
- [FaceSnap: Real-Time Personalized Lightstage Facial Performance Capture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.31033/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Coordinate based implicit neural representations have gained rapid popularity in recent years as they have been successfully used in image, geometry and scene modeling tasks. In this work, we present a novel use case for such implicit representations in the context of learning anatomically constrained face models. Actor specific anatomically constrained face models are the state of the art in both facial performance capture and performance retargeting. Despite their practical success, these anatomical models are slow to evaluate and often require extensive data capture to be built. We propose the anatomical implicit face model; an ensemble of implicit neural networks that jointly learn to model the facial anatomy and the skin surface with high-fidelity, and can readily be used as a drop in replacement to conventional blendshape models. Given an arbitrary set of skin surface meshes of an actor and only a neutral shape with estimated skull and jaw bones, our method can recover a dense anatomical substructure which constrains every point on the facial surface. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach in several tasks ranging from shape fitting, shape editing, and performance retargeting.