Abstract: The method of measuring surface motion is for measuring motion of each portion of an object surface from a sequence of unit images of the object including first and second unit images, and includes the step of determining a plurality of measurement points in the image of the object of the first unit image. The plurality of measurement points have a hierarchical structure of a plurality of levels, with the upper level layer having larger number of measurement points than the lower level layer.

Abstract: A method to transmit face images including the steps of: preparing a facial shape estimation unit receiving speech produced by a speaker and outputting a signal estimation the speaker's facial shape when he/she speaks; transmitting the speech produced by the speaker from the transmitting side to the receiving side and applying it to the facial shape estimation unit so as to estimate the speaker's facial shape; and generating a motion picture of the speaker's facial shape based on the signal estimation the speaker's facial shape output by the facial shape estimation unit.