Face landmark detection guide for iOS

The MediaPipe Face Landmarker task lets you detect face landmarks and facial expressions in images and videos. You can use this task to identify human facial expressions, apply facial filters and effects, and create virtual avatars. This task uses machine learning (ML) models that can work with single images, videos or a continuous stream of images. The task outputs 3-dimensional face landmarks, blendshape scores (coefficients representing facial expression) to infer detailed facial surfaces in real-time, and transformation matrices to perform the transformations required for effects rendering.

The code sample described in these instructions is available on GitHub. You can see this task in action by viewing this Web demo. For more information about the capabilities, models, and configuration options of this task, see the Overview.

Code example

The MediaPipe Tasks example code is a basic implementation of a Face Landmarker app for iOS. The example uses the camera on a physical iOS device to detect face landmarks in a continuous video stream. The app can also detect face landmarks in images and videos from the device gallery.

You can use the app as a starting point for your own iOS app, or refer to it when modifying an existing app. The Face Landmarker example code is hosted on GitHub.

Download the code

The following instructions show you how to create a local copy of the example code using the git command line tool.

To download the example code:

1. Clone the git repository using the following command:

   git clone https://github.com/google-ai-edge/mediapipe-samples
   

2. Optionally, configure your git instance to use sparse checkout, so you have only the files for the Face Landmarker example app:

   cd mediapipe
   git sparse-checkout init --cone
   git sparse-checkout set examples/face_landmarker/ios
   

After creating a local version of the example code, you can install the MediaPipe task library, open the project using Xcode and run the app. For instructions, see the Setup Guide for iOS.

Key components

The following files contain the crucial code for the Face Landmarker example application:

• FaceLandmarkerService.swift: Initializes the Face Landmarker, handles the model selection, and runs inference on the input data.
• CameraViewController.swift: Implements the UI for the live camera feed input mode and visualizes the results.
• MediaLibraryViewController.swift: Implements the UI for the still image and video file input modes and visualizes the results.

Setup

This section describes key steps for setting up your development environment and code projects to use Face Landmarker. For general information on setting up your development environment for using MediaPipe tasks, including platform version requirements, see the Setup guide for iOS.

Dependencies

Face Landmarker uses the MediaPipeTasksVision library, which must be installed using CocoaPods. The library is compatible with both Swift and Objective-C apps and does not require any additional language-specific setup.

For instructions to install CocoaPods on MacOS, refer to the CocoaPods installation guide. For instructions on how to create a Podfile with the necessary pods for your app, refer to Using CocoaPods.

Add the MediaPipeTasksVision pod in the Podfile using the following code:

target 'MyFaceLandmarkerApp' do
  use_frameworks!
  pod 'MediaPipeTasksVision'
end

If your app includes unit test targets, refer to the Set Up Guide for iOS for additional information on setting up your Podfile.

Model

The MediaPipe Face Landmarker task requires a trained model bundle that is compatible with this task. For more information about the available trained models for Face Landmarker, see the task overview Models section.

Select and download a model, and add it to your project directory using Xcode. For instructions on how to add files to your Xcode project, refer to Managing files and folders in your Xcode project.

Use the BaseOptions.modelAssetPath property to specify the path to the model in your app bundle. For a code example, see the next section.

Create the task

You can create the Face Landmarker task by calling one of its initializers. The FaceLandmarker(options:) initializer accepts values for the configuration options.

If you don't need a Face Landmarker initialized with customized configuration options, you can use the FaceLandmarker(modelPath:) initializer to create a Face Landmarker with the default options. For more information about configuration options, see the Configuration Overview.

The Face Landmarker task supports 3 input data types: still images, video files and live video streams. By default, FaceLandmarker(modelPath:) initializes a task for still images. If you want your task to be initialized to process video files or live video streams, use FaceLandmarker(options:) to specify the video or livestream running mode. The livestream mode also requires the additional faceLandmarkerLiveStreamDelegate configuration option, which enables the Face Landmarker to deliver face landmarker results to the delegate asynchronously.

Choose the tab corresponding to your running mode to see how to create the task and run inference.

Swift

import MediaPipeTasksVision

let modelPath = Bundle.main.path(
  forResource: "face_landmarker",
  ofType: "task")

let options = FaceLandmarkerOptions()
options.baseOptions.modelAssetPath = modelPath
options.runningMode = .image
options.minFaceDetectionConfidence = minFaceDetectionConfidence
options.minFacePresenceConfidence = minFacePresenceConfidence
options.minTrackingConfidence = minTrackingConfidence
options.numFaces = numFaces

let faceLandmarker = try FaceLandmarker(options: options)
    

import MediaPipeTasksVision

let modelPath = Bundle.main.path(
  forResource: "face_landmarker",
  ofType: "task")

let options = FaceLandmarkerOptions()
options.baseOptions.modelAssetPath = modelPath
options.runningMode = .video
options.minFaceDetectionConfidence = minFaceDetectionConfidence
options.minFacePresenceConfidence = minFacePresenceConfidence
options.minTrackingConfidence = minTrackingConfidence
options.numFaces = numFaces

let faceLandmarker = try FaceLandmarker(options: options)
    

import MediaPipeTasksVision

// Class that conforms to the `FaceLandmarkerLiveStreamDelegate` protocol and
// implements the method that the face landmarker calls once it finishes
// performing face landmark detection in each input frame.
class FaceLandmarkerResultProcessor: NSObject, FaceLandmarkerLiveStreamDelegate {

  func faceLandmarker(
    _ faceLandmarker: FaceLandmarker,
    didFinishDetection result: FaceLandmarkerResult?,
    timestampInMilliseconds: Int,
    error: Error?) {

    // Process the face landmarker result or errors here.

  }
}

let modelPath = Bundle.main.path(
  forResource: "face_landmarker",
  ofType: "task")

let options = FaceLandmarkerOptions()
options.baseOptions.modelAssetPath = modelPath
options.runningMode = .liveStream
options.minFaceDetectionConfidence = minFaceDetectionConfidence
options.minFacePresenceConfidence = minFacePresenceConfidence
options.minTrackingConfidence = minTrackingConfidence
options.numFaces = numFaces

// Assign an object of the class to the `faceLandmarkerLiveStreamDelegate`
// property.
let processor = FaceLandmarkerResultProcessor()
options.faceLandmarkerLiveStreamDelegate = processor

let faceLandmarker = try FaceLandmarker(options: options)
    

Objective-C

@import MediaPipeTasksVision;

NSString *modelPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"face_landmarker"
                                                      ofType:@"task"];

MPPFaceLandmarkerOptions *options = [[MPPFaceLandmarkerOptions alloc] init];
options.baseOptions.modelAssetPath = modelPath;
options.runningMode = MPPRunningModeImage;
options.minFaceDetectionConfidence = minFaceDetectionConfidence;
options.minFacePresenceConfidence = minFacePresenceConfidence;
options.minTrackingConfidence = minTrackingConfidence;
options.numFaces = numFaces;

MPPFaceLandmarker *faceLandmarker =
  [[MPPFaceLandmarker alloc] initWithOptions:options error:nil];
    

@import MediaPipeTasksVision;

NSString *modelPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"face_landmarker"
                                                      ofType:@"task"];

MPPFaceLandmarkerOptions *options = [[MPPFaceLandmarkerOptions alloc] init];
options.baseOptions.modelAssetPath = modelPath;
options.runningMode = MPPRunningModeVideo;
options.minFaceDetectionConfidence = minFaceDetectionConfidence;
options.minFacePresenceConfidence = minFacePresenceConfidence;
options.minTrackingConfidence = minTrackingConfidence;
options.numFaces = numFaces;

MPPFaceLandmarker *faceLandmarker =
  [[MPPFaceLandmarker alloc] initWithOptions:options error:nil];
    

@import MediaPipeTasksVision;

// Class that conforms to the `MPPFaceLandmarkerLiveStreamDelegate` protocol
// and implements the method that the face landmarker calls once it finishes
// performing face landmark detection in each input frame.
@interface APPFaceLandmarkerResultProcessor : NSObject 

@end

@implementation APPFaceLandmarkerResultProcessor

-   (void)faceLandmarker:(MPPFaceLandmarker *)faceLandmarker
    didFinishDetectionWithResult:(MPPFaceLandmarkerResult *)faceLandmarkerResult
         timestampInMilliseconds:(NSInteger)timestampInMilliseconds
                           error:(NSError *)error {

    // Process the face landmarker result or errors here.

}

@end

NSString *modelPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"face_landmarker"
                                                      ofType:@"task"];

MPPFaceLandmarkerOptions *options = [[MPPFaceLandmarkerOptions alloc] init];
options.baseOptions.modelAssetPath = modelPath;
options.runningMode = MPPRunningModeLiveStream;
options.minFaceDetectionConfidence = minFaceDetectionConfidence;
options.minFacePresenceConfidence = minFacePresenceConfidence;
options.minTrackingConfidence = minTrackingConfidence;
options.numFaces = numFaces;

// Assign an object of the class to the `faceLandmarkerLiveStreamDelegate`
// property.
APPFaceLandmarkerResultProcessor *processor = [APPFaceLandmarkerResultProcessor new];
options.faceLandmarkerLiveStreamDelegate = processor;

MPPFaceLandmarker *faceLandmarker =
  [[MPPFaceLandmarker alloc] initWithOptions:options error:nil];
    

Note: If you use the video mode or livestream mode, Face Landmarker uses tracking to avoid triggering the detection model on every frame, which helps reduce latency.

Configuration options

This task has the following configuration options for iOS apps:

When the running mode is set to LIVE_STREAM, the Face Landmarker requires the additional faceLandmarkerLiveStreamDelegate configuration option, which enables the Face Landmarker to deliver face landmark detection results asynchronously. The delegate must implement the faceLandmarker(_:didFinishDetection:timestampInMilliseconds:error:) method, which the Face Landmarker calls after processing the results of performing face landmark detection on each frame.

Prepare data

You need to convert the input image or frame to an MPImage object before passing it to the Face Landmarker. MPImage supports different types of iOS image formats, and can use them in any running mode for inference. For more information about MPImage, refer to the MPImage API.

Choose an iOS image format based on your use case and the running mode your application requires.MPImage accepts the UIImage, CVPixelBuffer, and CMSampleBuffer iOS image formats.

UIImage

The UIImage format is well-suited for the following running modes:

• Images: images from an app bundle, user gallery, or file system formatted as UIImage images can be converted to an MPImage object.

• Videos: use AVAssetImageGenerator to extract video frames to the CGImage format, then convert them to UIImage images.

// Load an image on the user's device as an iOS `UIImage` object.

// Convert the `UIImage` object to a MediaPipe's Image object having the default
// orientation `UIImage.Orientation.up`.
let image = try MPImage(uiImage: image)
    

// Load an image on the user's device as an iOS `UIImage` object.

// Convert the `UIImage` object to a MediaPipe's Image object having the default
// orientation `UIImageOrientationUp`.
MPImage *image = [[MPPImage alloc] initWithUIImage:image error:nil];
    

The example initializes an MPImage with the default UIImage.Orientation.Up orientation. You can initialize an MPImage with any of the supported UIImage.Orientation values. Face Landmarker does not support mirrored orientations like .upMirrored, .downMirrored, .leftMirrored, .rightMirrored.

For more information about UIImage, refer to the UIImage Apple Developer Documentation.

CVPixelBuffer

The CVPixelBuffer format is well-suited for applications that generate frames and use the iOS CoreImage framework for processing.

The CVPixelBuffer format is well-suited for the following running modes:

• Images: apps that generate CVPixelBuffer images after some processing using iOS's CoreImage framework can be sent to the Face Landmarker in the image running mode.

• Videos: video frames can be converted to the CVPixelBuffer format for processing, and then sent to the Face Landmarker in video mode.

• livestream: apps using an iOS camera to generate frames may be converted into the CVPixelBuffer format for processing before being sent to the Face Landmarker in livestream mode.

// Obtain a CVPixelBuffer.

// Convert the `CVPixelBuffer` object to a MediaPipe's Image object having the default
// orientation `UIImage.Orientation.up`.
let image = try MPImage(pixelBuffer: pixelBuffer)
    

// Obtain a CVPixelBuffer.

// Convert the `CVPixelBuffer` object to a MediaPipe's Image object having the
// default orientation `UIImageOrientationUp`.
MPImage *image = [[MPPImage alloc] initWithUIImage:image error:nil];
    

For more information about CVPixelBuffer, refer to the CVPixelBuffer Apple Developer Documentation.

CMSampleBuffer

The CMSampleBuffer format stores media samples of a uniform media type, and is well-suited for the livestream running mode. Live frames from iOS cameras are asynchronously delivered in the CMSampleBuffer format by iOS AVCaptureVideoDataOutput.

// Obtain a CMSampleBuffer.

// Convert the `CMSampleBuffer` object to a MediaPipe's Image object having the default
// orientation `UIImage.Orientation.up`.
let image = try MPImage(sampleBuffer: sampleBuffer)
    

// Obtain a `CMSampleBuffer`.

// Convert the `CMSampleBuffer` object to a MediaPipe's Image object having the
// default orientation `UIImageOrientationUp`.
MPImage *image = [[MPPImage alloc] initWithSampleBuffer:sampleBuffer error:nil];
    

For more information about CMSampleBuffer, refer to the CMSampleBuffer Apple Developer Documentation.

Run the task

To run the Face Landmarker, use the detect() method specific to the assigned running mode:

• Still image: detect(image:)
• Video: detect(videoFrame:timestampInMilliseconds:)
• Livestream: detectAsync(image:timestampInMilliseconds:)

The following code samples show basic examples of how to run Face Landmarker in these different running modes:

Swift

let result = try faceLandmarker.detect(image: image)
    

let result = try faceLandmarker.detect(
  videoFrame: image,
  timestampInMilliseconds: timestamp)
    

try faceLandmarker.detectAsync(
  image: image,
  timestampInMilliseconds: timestamp)
    

Objective-C

MPPFaceLandmarkerResult *result =
  [faceLandmarker detectImage:image error:nil];
    

MPPFaceLandmarkerResult *result =
  [faceLandmarker detectVideoFrame:image
           timestampInMilliseconds:timestamp
                             error:nil];
    

BOOL success =
  [faceLandmarker detectAsyncImage:image
           timestampInMilliseconds:timestamp
                             error:nil];
    

The Face Landmarker code example shows the implementations of each of these modes in more detail detect(image:), detect(videoFrame:timestampInMilliseconds:), and detectAsync(image:timestampInMilliseconds:). The example code allows the user to switch between processing modes which may not be required for your use case.

Note the following:

• When running in video mode or livestream mode, you must also provide the timestamp of the input frame to the Face Landmarker task.

• When running in image or video mode, the Face Landmarker task blocks the current thread until it finishes processing the input image or frame. To avoid blocking the current thread, execute the processing in a background thread using iOS Dispatch or NSOperation frameworks. If your app is created using Swift, you can also use Swift Concurrency for background thread execution.

• When running in livestream mode, the Face Landmarker task returns immediately and doesn't block the current thread. It invokes the faceLandmarker(_:didFinishDetection:timestampInMilliseconds:error:) method with the face landmark detection result after processing each input frame. The Face Landmarker invokes this method asynchronously on a dedicated serial dispatch queue. For displaying results on the user interface, dispatch the results to the main queue after processing the results.

Handle and display results

Upon running inference, the Face Landmarker returns a FaceLandmarkerResult which contains a face mesh for each detected face, with coordinates for each face landmark. Optionally, the result object can also contain blendshapes, which denote facial expressions, and facial transformation matrices to apply face effects on the detected landmarks.

The following shows an example of the output data from this task:

FaceLandmarkerResult:
  face_landmarks:
    NormalizedLandmark #0:
      x: 0.5971359014511108
      y: 0.485361784696579
      z: -0.038440968841314316
    NormalizedLandmark #1:
      x: 0.3302789330482483
      y: 0.29289937019348145
      z: -0.09489090740680695
    ... (478 landmarks for each face)
  face_blendshapes:
    browDownLeft: 0.8296722769737244
    browDownRight: 0.8096957206726074
    browInnerUp: 0.00035583582939580083
    browOuterUpLeft: 0.00035752105759456754
    ... (52 blendshapes for each face)
  facial_transformation_matrixes:
    [9.99158978e-01, -1.23036895e-02, 3.91213447e-02, -3.70770246e-01]
    [1.66496094e-02,  9.93480563e-01, -1.12779640e-01, 2.27719707e+01]
    ...

The following image shows a visualization of the task output:

The Face Landmarker example code demonstrates how to display the results returned by the task, see FaceOverlay.swift for more details.