D modeling is currently one of the most important issues in computer vision and computer graphics. Human faces are so common and reachable that many new algorithms are first tested on the face data. Also

due to the complexity and flexibility of human faces

many researchers have taken on the challenge of building realistic 3D face models. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of recent developments of 3D face modeling and keeps up with the latest research mainly from 1990 to now. Different from previous reviews

this paper puts emphasis on four major issues involved in a general frame work of 3D face modeling

i.e. 3D capture

generic 3D face modeling

individual face model generation and its application. This paper focuses more on overall methods and general characteristics involved in above four issues. To provide more detailed discussions

each issue is accordingly divided into categories of approach and various main methods proposed in each issue are clearly discussed to examine the state-of-the-art in human face modeling. Based on the discussion and analysis

this paper tries to summarize the intrinsic principles and common methodologies. Finally

some detailed discussions on research topics and future direction on 3D face modeling are provided.