While at GDC I had my face scanned by EyeBCom, for a realistic 3D facial avatar. The scan turned out really nice, although I hate to admit this because I look very serious and a tad goofy.
I also met with the gang over at BigStage and had my picture scanned into their system. I will update this post once I get access to that demo. Once scanned into their system BigStage offers a bunch of movie clips which you can integrate your face into, turning yourself into the star. This final product is a bit like what JibJab and Gizmoz are doing now, but with 3D tech you can take things much further than just the floating head effect typically seen.
These 3D facial scans have obvious User-Generated Content (UGC) implications, allowing people to easily upload their photos online and put themselves into video game and animation experiences. BigStage currently asks for 3 pictures to be taken (a bit much) and a standard webcam camera will not work (resolution too low), so the barrier to entrance is still a bit high. Still, things are changing quickly and soon it will be very easy to star in any online content you want using these technologies.
As we get ready to launch instafilms.com, this is certainly a viable extension of our business, and should prove to be a lot of fun once integrated. Why just direct your own videos and animation, when you can star in them too?