Quote - My thought was that the common shape will enable comparisons between any actors which have the reference shape prepared.  I think processing through the reference shape actor as an intermediary would just add complications and the risk of distortion.  That is, for actor A to actor B, if both share the shape of actor C, you'd compare A to B directly.  Rather than run as A to C to B.  Once the common shape is in place, it's a matter of comparing actors directly.

I think I should just stop talking at you. You're way ahead of me in these matters. Shaping A and B toward the reference actor and then doing the comparison and transfer between them directly is a much better idea than going through C explicitly.

That also means that the density of the reference mesh would be less of an issue. You wouldn't want lo-res Antonia, but anything sufficiently smooth to recognize the intended  shape would in fact be fine.

-- I'm not mad at you, just Westphalian.