The Significance of Expressive Human Pose and Shape Estimation (EHPS) in Animation, Gaming, and Fashion
The field of expressive human pose and shape estimation (EHPS) from monocular photos or videos is revolutionizing the animation, gaming, and fashion industries. By accurately capturing the complex human anatomy, face, and hands, EHPS uses parametric human models like SMPL-X. While there has been an increase in unique datasets, the current state-of-the-art approaches are limited to a small number of these datasets, resulting in performance limitations and a lack of generalization to new scenarios.
The Need for Thorough Analysis of Available Datasets
In order to build reliable and globally applicable EHPS models, researchers have thoroughly analyzed existing datasets. They have created the first systematic benchmark for EHPS using 32 datasets and evaluated their performance against four key standards. This analysis has revealed significant inconsistencies between benchmarks, highlighting the complexity of the EHPS landscape. It calls for data scaling to bridge the gaps between different scenarios and improve generalization.
Utilizing Multiple Datasets for Comprehensive Research
The research emphasizes the importance of using multiple datasets to take advantage of their complementary nature. It also examines the factors that affect the transferability of these datasets. Based on their observations, the researchers provide valuable advice for future dataset gathering, such as the optimal size of datasets and the effectiveness of synthetic datasets. They also highlight the usefulness of pseudo-SMPL-X labels in the absence of SMPL-X annotations.
The Introduction of SMPLer-X: A Generalist Foundation Model
Based on the benchmark analysis, researchers from various institutions have developed SMPLer-X. This generalist foundation model has been trained using a variety of datasets and has shown balanced outcomes in different circumstances. SMPLer-X has a minimalist design philosophy, focusing on the most crucial components for EHPS. It allows for massive data and parameter scaling and serves as a basis for future field research.
SMPLer-X has outperformed all benchmark results in experiments with various data combinations and model sizes, challenging the restricted dataset training practice. It has significantly reduced the mean primary errors on major benchmarks and demonstrated impressive generalization capabilities. Moreover, the researchers have optimized the foundation model to become a powerful specialist across different benchmarks by extending the data selection technique.
This research provides valuable insights into building reliable EHPS models and emphasizes the need for comprehensive dataset analysis. By utilizing multiple datasets and developing generalist foundation models like SMPLer-X, the animation, gaming, and fashion industries can benefit from more accurate and versatile human pose and shape estimation.