Abstract: A system for three-dimensional (3-D) facial animation, including a base 3-D surface model representing a human face, and a set of displacement fields representing surface motion patterns associated with muscle movements. Each displacement field is a displacement vector varying over vertices of the base surface model and an intensity variable. Both the base surface model and displacement fields are acquired from a live subject by 3-D acquisition. The data are acquired using a surface acquisition system, capable of measuring the coordinates of a set of points on the subject's face and reconstructing the facial surface as a surface model. The base surface model is acquired by reconstructing the surface of the subject's face in the neutral pose. Each displacement field is acquired by reconstructing the surface of the subject's face in a series of poses of a muscle movement at increasing intensities.