3D human face description: landmarks measures and geometrical features

Distance measures and geometrical features are widely used to describe faces. Generally, they are extracted punctually from landmarks, namely anthropometric reference points. The aims are various, such as face recognition, facial expression recognition, face detection, study of changes in facial morphology due to growth, or dysmorphologies. Most of the time, landmarks were extracted with the help of an algorithm or manually located on the faces. Then, measures are computed or geometrical features are extracted to perform the scope of the study. This paper is intended as a survey collecting and explaining all these features, in order to provide a structured user database of the potential parameters and their characteristics. Firstly, facial soft-tissue landmarks are defined and contextualized; then the various measures are introduced and some results are given; lastly, the most important measures are compared to identify the best one for face recognition applications.

► Landmarks are an important elements for human face study applications.
► Landmark measures and geometrical features have been analyzed.
► Euclidean and Geodesic distances seem to be the most employed for recognition applications.