Foundations and Trends® in Computer Graphics and Vision > Vol 3 > Issue 1

The Appearance of Human Skin: A Survey

By Takanori Igarashi, Skin Care Research Laboratory, Kao Corporation, Japan, igarashi.takanori@kao.co.jp | Ko Nishino, Department of Computer Science, Drexel University, USA, kon@cs.drexel.edu | Shree K. Nayar, Department of Computer Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, nayar@cs.columbia.edu

 
Suggested Citation
Takanori Igarashi, Ko Nishino and Shree K. Nayar (2007), "The Appearance of Human Skin: A Survey", Foundations and TrendsĀ® in Computer Graphics and Vision: Vol. 3: No. 1, pp 1-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/0600000013

Publication Date: 05 Nov 2007
© 2007 T. Igarashi, K. Nishino and S. K. Nayar
 
Subjects
Animation,  Medical image analysis,  Texture analysis and synthesis
 

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In this article:
1. Why is Skin Appearance Important? 
2. Physiology and Anatomy of Human Skin 
3. Models for Human Skin Appearance 
4. Summary 
Acknowledgments 
References 

Abstract

Skin is the outer-most tissue of the human body. As a result, people are very aware of, and very sensitive to, the appearance of their skin. Consequently, skin appearance has been a subject of great interest in various fields of science and technology. In particular, research on skin appearance has been intensely pursued in the fields of computer graphics, computer vision, cosmetology, and medicine. In this survey, we review the most prominent results related to skin in these fields and show how these seemingly disconnected studies are related to one another. In each of the fields, the optical behaviors of specific skin components have been studied from the viewpoint of the specific objectives of the field. However, the different components of skin produce different types of optical phenomena that are determined by their physio-anatomical characteristics (sizes, shapes, and functions of the components). The final appearance of skin has contributions from complex optical interactions of many different skin components with light. In order to view these interactions in a unified manner, we describe and categorize past works based on the physiological and anatomical characteristics of the various skin components.

DOI:10.1561/0600000013
ISBN: 978-1-60198-086-1
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Table of contents:
1. Why is Skin Appearance Important?
2. Physiology and Anatomy of Human Skin
3. Models for Human Skin Appearance
4. Summary
Acknowledgements
References

The Appearance of Human Skin

Skin is the outer-most tissue of the human body. As a result, people are very aware of, and very sensitive to, the appearance of their skin. Skin appearance has, consequently, been a subject of great interest in various fields of science and technology. In particular, research on skin appearance has been intensely pursued in the fields of computer graphics, computer vision, cosmetology, and medicine.

The Appearance of Human Skin: A Survey reviews the most prominent results related to skin in these fields and shows how these seemingly disconnected studies are related to one another. In each of the fields, the optical behaviors of specific skin components have been studied from the viewpoint of the specific objectives of the field. However, the different components of skin produce different types of optical phenomena that are determined by their physioanatomical characteristics (sizes, shapes and functions of the components). The final appearance of skin has contributions from complex optical interactions of many different skin components with light.

In order to view these interactions in a unified manner, The Appearance of Human Skin describes and categorizes past works based on the physiological and anatomical characteristics of the various skin components. One of the major goals of skin research is to develop a precise and yet computationally efficient model of skin appearance. The Appearance of Human Skin surveys the many important results that have brought us closer to achieving this goal. However, it also highlights the many important and challenging problems that remain unsolved and need to be addressed. It will be of interest to anybody researching, or planning to conduct research, on the appearance of human skin.

 
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