Detect face mesh info with ML Kit on Android

You can use ML Kit to detect faces in selfie-like images and videos.

Face mesh detection API
SDK nameface-mesh-detection
ImplementationCode and assets are statically linked to your app at build time.
App size impact~6.4MB
PerformanceReal-time on most devices.

Try it out

  • Play around with the sample app to see an example usage of this API.

Before you begin

  1. In your project-level build.gradle file, make sure to include Google's Maven repository in both your buildscript and allprojects sections.

  2. Add the dependency for the ML Kit face mesh detection library to your module's app-level gradle file, which is usually app/build.gradle:

    dependencies {
 // ...

 implementation 'com.google.mlkit:face-mesh-detection:16.0.0-beta1'
}

Input image guidelines

  1. Images should be taken within ~2 meters (~7 feet) from the device camera, so that the faces are sufficiently large for optimal face mesh recognition. In general, the larger the face, the better the face mesh recognition.

  2. The face should be facing the camera with at least half of the face visible. Any large object between the face and the camera may result in lower accuracy.

If you would like to detect faces in a real-time application, you should also consider the overall dimensions of the input image. Smaller images can be processed faster, so capturing images at lower resolutions reduces latency. However, keep in mind the accuracy requirements above and ensure that the subject's face occupies as much of the image as possible.

Configure the face mesh detector

If you want to change any of the face mesh detector's default settings, specify those settings with a FaceMeshDetectorOptions object. You can change the following settings:

  1. setUseCase

    • BOUNDING_BOX_ONLY: Only provides a bounding box for a detected face mesh. This is the fastest face detector, but has with range limitation(faces must be within ~2 meters or ~7 feet of the camera).

    • FACE_MESH (default option): Provides a bounding box and additional face mesh info (468 3D points and triangle info). When compared to the BOUNDING_BOX_ONLY use case, latency increases by ~15%, as measured on Pixel 3.

For example:

Kotlin

val defaultDetector = FaceMeshDetection.getClient(
  FaceMeshDetectorOptions.DEFAULT_OPTIONS)

val boundingBoxDetector = FaceMeshDetection.getClient(
  FaceMeshDetectorOptions.Builder()
    .setUseCase(UseCase.BOUNDING_BOX_ONLY)
    .build()
)

Java

FaceMeshDetector defaultDetector =
        FaceMeshDetection.getClient(
                FaceMeshDetectorOptions.DEFAULT_OPTIONS);

FaceMeshDetector boundingBoxDetector = FaceMeshDetection.getClient(
        new FaceMeshDetectorOptions.Builder()
                .setUseCase(UseCase.BOUNDING_BOX_ONLY)
                .build()
        );

Prepare the input image

To detect faces in an image, create an InputImage object from either a Bitmap, media.Image, ByteBuffer, byte array, or a file on the device. Then, pass the InputImage object to the FaceDetector's process method.

For face mesh detection, you should use an image with dimensions of at least 480x360 pixels. If you are detecting faces in real time, capturing frames at this minimum resolution can help reduce latency.

You can create an InputImage object from different sources, each is explained below.

Using a media.Image

To create an InputImage object from a media.Image object, such as when you capture an image from a device's camera, pass the media.Image object and the image's rotation to InputImage.fromMediaImage().

If you use the CameraX library, the OnImageCapturedListener and ImageAnalysis.Analyzer classes calculate the rotation value for you.

Kotlin

private class YourImageAnalyzer : ImageAnalysis.Analyzer {

    override fun analyze(imageProxy: ImageProxy) {
        val mediaImage = imageProxy.image
        if (mediaImage != null) {
            val image = InputImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, imageProxy.imageInfo.rotationDegrees)
            // Pass image to an ML Kit Vision API
            // ...
        }
    }
}

Java

private class YourAnalyzer implements ImageAnalysis.Analyzer {

    @Override
    public void analyze(ImageProxy imageProxy) {
        Image mediaImage = imageProxy.getImage();
        if (mediaImage != null) {
          InputImage image =
                InputImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, imageProxy.getImageInfo().getRotationDegrees());
          // Pass image to an ML Kit Vision API
          // ...
        }
    }
}

If you don't use a camera library that gives you the image's rotation degree, you can calculate it from the device's rotation degree and the orientation of camera sensor in the device:

Kotlin

private val ORIENTATIONS = SparseIntArray()

init {
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_0, 0)
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_90, 90)
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_180, 180)
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_270, 270)
}

/**
 * Get the angle by which an image must be rotated given the device's current
 * orientation.
 */
@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
@Throws(CameraAccessException::class)
private fun getRotationCompensation(cameraId: String, activity: Activity, isFrontFacing: Boolean): Int {
    // Get the device's current rotation relative to its "native" orientation.
    // Then, from the ORIENTATIONS table, look up the angle the image must be
    // rotated to compensate for the device's rotation.
    val deviceRotation = activity.windowManager.defaultDisplay.rotation
    var rotationCompensation = ORIENTATIONS.get(deviceRotation)

    // Get the device's sensor orientation.
    val cameraManager = activity.getSystemService(CAMERA_SERVICE) as CameraManager
    val sensorOrientation = cameraManager
            .getCameraCharacteristics(cameraId)
            .get(CameraCharacteristics.SENSOR_ORIENTATION)!!

    if (isFrontFacing) {
        rotationCompensation = (sensorOrientation + rotationCompensation) % 360
    } else { // back-facing
        rotationCompensation = (sensorOrientation - rotationCompensation + 360) % 360
    }
    return rotationCompensation
}
MLKitVisionImage.kt

Java

private static final SparseIntArray ORIENTATIONS = new SparseIntArray();
static {
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_0, 0);
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_90, 90);
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_180, 180);
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_270, 270);
}

/**
 * Get the angle by which an image must be rotated given the device's current
 * orientation.
 */
@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
private int getRotationCompensation(String cameraId, Activity activity, boolean isFrontFacing)
        throws CameraAccessException {
    // Get the device's current rotation relative to its "native" orientation.
    // Then, from the ORIENTATIONS table, look up the angle the image must be
    // rotated to compensate for the device's rotation.
    int deviceRotation = activity.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getRotation();
    int rotationCompensation = ORIENTATIONS.get(deviceRotation);

    // Get the device's sensor orientation.
    CameraManager cameraManager = (CameraManager) activity.getSystemService(CAMERA_SERVICE);
    int sensorOrientation = cameraManager
            .getCameraCharacteristics(cameraId)
            .get(CameraCharacteristics.SENSOR_ORIENTATION);

    if (isFrontFacing) {
        rotationCompensation = (sensorOrientation + rotationCompensation) % 360;
    } else { // back-facing
        rotationCompensation = (sensorOrientation - rotationCompensation + 360) % 360;
    }
    return rotationCompensation;
}

Then, pass the media.Image object and the rotation degree value to InputImage.fromMediaImage():

Kotlin

val image = InputImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, rotation)
MLKitVisionImage.kt

Java

InputImage image = InputImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, rotation);

Using a file URI

To create an InputImage object from a file URI, pass the app context and file URI to InputImage.fromFilePath(). This is useful when you use an ACTION_GET_CONTENT intent to prompt the user to select an image from their gallery app.

Kotlin

val image: InputImage
try {
    image = InputImage.fromFilePath(context, uri)
} catch (e: IOException) {
    e.printStackTrace()
}
MLKitVisionImage.kt

Java

InputImage image;
try {
    image = InputImage.fromFilePath(context, uri);
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Using a ByteBuffer or ByteArray

To create an InputImage object from a ByteBuffer or a ByteArray, first calculate the image rotation degree as previously described for media.Image input. Then, create the InputImage object with the buffer or array, together with image's height, width, color encoding format, and rotation degree:

Kotlin

val image = InputImage.fromByteBuffer(
        byteBuffer,
        /* image width */ 480,
        /* image height */ 360,
        rotationDegrees,
        InputImage.IMAGE_FORMAT_NV21 // or IMAGE_FORMAT_YV12
)
MLKitVisionImage.kt

// Or:
val image = InputImage.fromByteArray(
        byteArray,
        /* image width */ 480,
        /* image height */ 360,
        rotationDegrees,
        InputImage.IMAGE_FORMAT_NV21 // or IMAGE_FORMAT_YV12
)

MLKitVisionImage.kt

Java

InputImage image = InputImage.fromByteBuffer(byteBuffer,
        /* image width */ 480,
        /* image height */ 360,
        rotationDegrees,
        InputImage.IMAGE_FORMAT_NV21 // or IMAGE_FORMAT_YV12
);
MLKitVisionImage.java

// Or:
InputImage image = InputImage.fromByteArray(
        byteArray,
        /* image width */480,
        /* image height */360,
        rotation,
        InputImage.IMAGE_FORMAT_NV21 // or IMAGE_FORMAT_YV12
);
MLKitVisionImage.java

Using a Bitmap

To create an InputImage object from a Bitmap object, make the following declaration:

Kotlin

val image = InputImage.fromBitmap(bitmap, 0)
MLKitVisionImage.kt

Java

InputImage image = InputImage.fromBitmap(bitmap, rotationDegree);
MLKitVisionImage.java

The image is represented by a Bitmap object together with rotation degrees.

Process the image

Pass the image to the process method:

Kotlin

val result = detector.process(image)
        .addOnSuccessListener { result ->
            // Task completed successfully
            // …
        }
        .addOnFailureListener { e ->
            // Task failed with an exception
            // …
        }

Java

Task<List<FaceMesh>> result = detector.process(image)
        .addOnSuccessListener(
                new OnSuccessListener<List<FaceMesh>>() {
                    @Override
                    public void onSuccess(List<FaceMesh> result) {
                        // Task completed successfully
                        // …
                    }
                })
        .addOnFailureListener(
                new OnFailureListener() {
                    @Override
                    Public void onFailure(Exception e) {
                        // Task failed with an exception
                        // …
                    }
                });

Get information about the detected face mesh

If any face is detected in the image, a list of FaceMesh objects is passed to the success listener. Each FaceMesh represents a face that was detected in the image. For each face mesh, you can get its bounding coordinates in the input image, as well as any other information that you configured the face mesh detector to find.

Kotlin

for (faceMesh in faceMeshs) {
    val bounds: Rect = faceMesh.boundingBox()

    // Gets all points
    val faceMeshpoints = faceMesh.allPoints
    for (faceMeshpoint in faceMeshpoints) {
      val index: Int = faceMeshpoints.index()
      val position = faceMeshpoint.position
    }

    // Gets triangle info
    val triangles: List<Triangle<FaceMeshPoint>> = faceMesh.allTriangles
    for (triangle in triangles) {
      // 3 Points connecting to each other and representing a triangle area.
      val connectedPoints = triangle.allPoints()
    }
}

Java

for (FaceMesh faceMesh : faceMeshs) {
    Rect bounds = faceMesh.getBoundingBox();

    // Gets all points
    List<FaceMeshPoint> faceMeshpoints = faceMesh.getAllPoints();
    for (FaceMeshPoint faceMeshpoint : faceMeshpoints) {
        int index = faceMeshpoints.getIndex();
        PointF3D position = faceMeshpoint.getPosition();
    }

    // Gets triangle info
    List<Triangle<FaceMeshPoint>> triangles = faceMesh.getAllTriangles();
    for (Triangle<FaceMeshPoint> triangle : triangles) {
        // 3 Points connecting to each other and representing a triangle area.
        List<FaceMeshPoint> connectedPoints = triangle.getAllPoints();
    }
}