Physics-Based Simulation of Contact-Induced Facial Wrinkling

2026-07-06

AI Summary

This work addresses the significant challenge of physically simulating fine-scale facial wrinkles arising from contact, owing to the intricate interplay of geometric complexity, material heterogeneity, and anatomical constraints. The authors propose a finite element–based simulation framework that models skin as a viscoelastic material exhibiting time-dependent relaxation behavior. A novel continuum-mechanics formulation of cutaneous ligaments is introduced to capture heterogeneous attachments and anatomical tethering effects. By integrating high-order prismatic solid-shell elements with a robust contact algorithm, the method effectively governs wrinkle amplitude, wavelength, and spatial distribution. Experimental validation demonstrates that the resulting transient contact-induced wrinkles exhibit anatomical plausibility, temporal coherence, and visual realism, closely matching both synthetic benchmarks and real-world video observations.

Abstract

Facial skin dynamics are inherently challenging to simulate due to a combination of geometric, material, and anatomical complexities. Human skin is a nonlinear layered material with spatially heterogeneous attachments to the underlying tissues. During contact events, localized compression and shear induce mechanical instabilities, leading to fine-scale wrinkling patterns governed by a delicate interplay of geometry, boundary conditions, and through-the-thickness stresses. We present a finite element framework to simulate contact-induced wrinkling of facial skin. We model skin as a viscoelastic material with time-dependent relaxation that governs the rate, persistence, and damping of wrinkle formation. We employ high-order prismatic solid-shell elements to resolve through-thickness stresses and high-frequency deformation modes. Central to our approach, we introduce a continuum-based formulation of skin ligaments to model heterogeneous skin attachments and provide anatomically inspired mobility constraints. These skin ligaments control the formation and appearance of facial wrinkles by modulating their amplitude, wavelength, and spatial distribution. We evaluate our method on a set of synthetic examples and compare simulations with real-world footage. These results demonstrate that our skin model produces temporally coherent and visually realistic wrinkle patterns during transient contact.

Problem

• facial wrinkling
• contact-induced deformation
• skin mechanics
• mechanical instability
• anatomical complexity

Innovation

• viscoelastic skin model
• solid-shell elements
• skin ligaments
• contact-induced wrinkling
• continuum mechanics