THE HUMAN FACE, RENDERED

Naturalistic human facial expression is becoming more convincing as the technology evolves and the creators of these analogs build in more detail - the muscles of the brow and around the corners of the mouth are represented more fully and faithfully. Like this video of a Japanese humanoid that has been floating around the internet recently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7tYwnqot6M


There's that Uncanny Valley, where if something looks like a human but not quite like a human the representation leaves you cold, even a little queasy in my case.

3d graphic representations of people have, up until recently, always landed in the Valley for me. No matter the skill of the texturing of the skin and drapping of flesh on structure, they often seem hollow, moving but without a soul and maybe without internal organs. The Tom Hanks character in the Polar Express I found particularly grotesque because the empty humanoid emanated such a familiar and everyman voice.

It's instructive to go back to the early days of a medium and see the creators just beginning to manipulate a form that in retrospect, feels an inevitable evolution that is now familiar.

I ran across this video of early 3D modeling of the human head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPMFhcC4SvQ&feature=related


The video is really creepy, and sometime playful, like around 2:17 where the animator distorts the features beyond the boundaries as a show of technical prowess. It's also a little surprising how advanced this head is for 1974. They could do that in 1974? I wasn't even born!

Of course, people - artists and actors - have been depicting and manipulating the human visage since the dawn of art. Here is one of the most powerful examples in human history -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caravaggio_-_David_con_la_testa_di_Golia.jpg

The young warrior David, having slain the giant Goliath, looks at the work he holds in his hand with a subtle expression. Maybe it is sympathy or concern or a bittersweet reflection on what's required in conflict. Goliath's head is a grotesque and humanized monster, the brow tensed and palpable as a real human brow would be. But this depiction created with the not-so-simple tools of canvas, pigment, medium, adhesive.

What will be the next generation of depictions and analogues of the human face?