SyncTalk: The Devil is in the Synchronization for Talking Head Synthesis
About
Achieving high synchronization in the synthesis of realistic, speech-driven talking head videos presents a significant challenge. Traditional Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) struggle to maintain consistent facial identity, while Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) methods, although they can address this issue, often produce mismatched lip movements, inadequate facial expressions, and unstable head poses. A lifelike talking head requires synchronized coordination of subject identity, lip movements, facial expressions, and head poses. The absence of these synchronizations is a fundamental flaw, leading to unrealistic and artificial outcomes. To address the critical issue of synchronization, identified as the "devil" in creating realistic talking heads, we introduce SyncTalk. This NeRF-based method effectively maintains subject identity, enhancing synchronization and realism in talking head synthesis. SyncTalk employs a Face-Sync Controller to align lip movements with speech and innovatively uses a 3D facial blendshape model to capture accurate facial expressions. Our Head-Sync Stabilizer optimizes head poses, achieving more natural head movements. The Portrait-Sync Generator restores hair details and blends the generated head with the torso for a seamless visual experience. Extensive experiments and user studies demonstrate that SyncTalk outperforms state-of-the-art methods in synchronization and realism. We recommend watching the supplementary video: https://ziqiaopeng.github.io/synctalk
Related benchmarks
| Task | Dataset | Result | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audio-driven facial animation | MEAD 41 (test) | PSNR28.12 | 26 | |
| Audio-driven facial animation | RAVDESS 42 (test) | PSNR27.706 | 24 | |
| Talking head synthesis | User Study | Lip Sync Quality4.304 | 18 | |
| Talking Head Reenactment | General Inference (test) | FPS1.03 | 13 | |
| Talking Head Reenactment | General Inference | Inference Speed (FPS)1.03 | 13 | |
| Head reconstruction | Video sequences (test) | PSNR37.4017 | 11 | |
| Talking Head Generation | User Study | Lip Sync85.2 | 7 | |
| Lip synchronization | Well-edited video sequences (Audio A) | LSE-D7.7211 | 6 | |
| Lip synchronization | Well-edited video sequences (Audio B) | LSE-D8.0248 | 6 | |
| Talking Head Generation | RSATalker (test) | L1 Loss0.0288 | 4 |