# PALM: A Dataset and Baseline for Learning Multi-subject Hand Prior

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.05403 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.05403/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 47 of its 58 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 7 Nov 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 47)

- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Deep Features as a Perceptual Metric](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.03924/) (2018)
- [Volume Rendering of Neural Implicit Surfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12052/) (2021)
- [Implicit Geometric Regularization for Learning Shapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.10099/) (2020)
- [Soft Rasterizer: A Differentiable Renderer for Image-based 3D Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.01786/) (2019)
- [Learning joint reconstruction of hands and manipulated objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.05767/) (2019)
- [HOI4D: A 4D Egocentric Dataset for Category-Level Human-Object Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.01577/) (2022)
- [DexYCB: A Benchmark for Capturing Hand Grasping of Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.04631/) (2021)
- [ARCTIC: A Dataset for Dexterous Bimanual Hand-Object Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.13662/) (2022)
- [Assembly101: A Large-Scale Multi-View Video Dataset for Understanding Procedural Activities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.14712/) (2022)
- [FreiHAND: A Dataset for Markerless Capture of Hand Pose and Shape from Single RGB Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.04349/) (2019)
- [H2O: Two Hands Manipulating Objects for First Person Interaction Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.11181/) (2021)
- [InterHand2.6M: A Dataset and Baseline for 3D Interacting Hand Pose Estimation from a Single RGB Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.09309/) (2020)
- [Learning to Estimate 3D Hand Pose from Single RGB Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.01389/) (2017)
- [Hand Keypoint Detection in Single Images using Multiview Bootstrapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.07809/) (2017)
- [First-Person Hand Action Benchmark with RGB-D Videos and 3D Hand Pose Annotations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.02463/) (2017)
- [SNARF: Differentiable Forward Skinning for Animating Non-Rigid Neural Implicit Shapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.03953/) (2021)
- [ContactPose: A Dataset of Grasps with Object Contact and Hand Pose](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.09545/) (2020)
- [Embodied Hands: Modeling and Capturing Hands and Bodies Together](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.02610/) (2022)
- [HOT3D: Hand and Object Tracking in 3D from Egocentric Multi-View Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.19167/) (2024)
- [Capturing Hands in Action using Discriminative Salient Points and Physics Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02178/) (2015)
- [Weakly Supervised 3D Hand Pose Estimation via Biomechanical Constraints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.09282/) (2020)
- [Real-time Hand Tracking under Occlusion from an Egocentric RGB-D Sensor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.02201/) (2017)
- [HOLD: Category-agnostic 3D Reconstruction of Interacting Hands and Objects from Video](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.18448/) (2023)
- [gDNA: Towards Generative Detailed Neural Avatars](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.04123/) (2022)
- [LISA: Learning Implicit Shape and Appearance of Hands](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.01695/) (2022)
- [GraspXL: Generating Grasping Motions for Diverse Objects at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.19649/) (2024)
- [Dyn-HaMR: Recovering 4D Interacting Hand Motion from a Dynamic Camera](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.12861/) (2024)
- [A Skeleton-Driven Neural Occupancy Representation for Articulated Hands](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.11399/) (2021)
- [DeepHandMesh: A Weakly-supervised Deep Encoder-Decoder Framework for High-fidelity Hand Mesh Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.08213/) (2020)

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

- [Adaptive kNN graph model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.16509/) (2026)
- [VEPHand: View-Efficient Photometric Hand Performance Capture at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.15966/) (2026)
- [Hand-4DGS: Feed-Forward 3D Gaussian Splatting for 4D Hand Reconstruction from Egocentric Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.19156/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The ability to grasp objects, signal with gestures, and share emotion through touch all stem from the unique capabilities of human hands. Yet creating high-quality personalized hand avatars from images remains challenging due to complex geometry, appearance, and articulation, particularly under unconstrained lighting and limited views. Progress has also been limited by the lack of datasets that jointly provide accurate 3D geometry, high-resolution multiview imagery, and a diverse population of subjects. To address this, we present PALM, a large-scale dataset comprising 13k high-quality hand scans from 263 subjects and 90k multi-view images, capturing rich variation in skin tone, age, and geometry. To show its utility, we present a baseline PALM-Net, a multi-subject prior over hand geometry and material properties learned via physically based inverse rendering, enabling realistic, relightable single-image hand avatar personalization. PALM's scale and diversity make it a valuable real-world resource for hand modeling and related research.