Apple looks into virtual avatar animation based on facial feature movement

Apple has been granted a patent for “virtual avatar animation based on facial feature movement.” It involves allowing users to more easily play around with the company’s Animoji and Memoji features.

Animojis allow a user to choose an avatar (e.g., a puppet) to represent themselves. The Animoji can move and talk as if it were a video of the user. Animojis enable users to create personalized versions of emojis in a fun and creative way, and Memoji is the name used for iOS’s personalized “Animoji” characters that can be created and customized right within Messages by choosing from a set of inclusive and diverse characteristics to form a unique personality. 

About the patent

The patent involves techniques for displaying visual effects in Animojis and Memojiis. The visual effects could be used to enhance a user’s experience when capturing and viewing media using electronic devices. Visual effects could alter the appearance of image data or can represent an idealized or completely fictional representation of an environment captured in an image. 

Summary of the patent

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “The present disclosure generally relates to displaying visual effects such as virtual avatars. An electronic device having a camera and a display apparatus displays a virtual avatar that changes appearance in response to changes in a face in a field of view of the camera. In response to detecting changes in one or more physical features of the face in the field of view of the camera, the electronic device modifies one or more features of the virtual avatar.”