Does your av look like you? Show us!

Umm... nope not really, just look at my forum av, I don't look like THAT ) But I have another av, a human one, and she does in fact look quite a bit like myself. At least taht's what people told me. I used photos of myself to model her face and body. Even her height matches to the centimeter. Sorry no pic though.

The uncanny valley is a strange old place. There's some aspects of people's appearance that I often wonder if they meant to look that way or simply that's how they manage to make themselves.

My av is based on me but ... well, if I actually looked like my av then I'd not be sitting in this office working my butt off for a living. That having been said all I see are the imperfections ...

I think I did a fair rendition...hair in RL is shorter, but hey. Gotta have good hair in SL.

Well, the few RL photos I've noticed on some profiles, they look pretty much like their Avi. So it got me to thinking. I thought mine was completely different, but except for the sex change, he does look like me. He's a cute easy going blond guy. Better dancer.

One day I tried out buff, security guard black guy, I felt too intimidating.

I'm female, but knew I'd be a guy in SL. I can't even bring myself to make a female Avitar.

Cute thread! Ok well I'm gettin brave in my old age I guess, here's a side by side pic of my avie vs. me. I think maybe I look a little like my av in the face, I've been working to grow ears but it just doesnt seem to happen.

http://s94.photobucket.com/albums/l115/Xaria_C/?action=view&current=XarVs.RL.jpg

Ya i wish i looked this good.

Wow that's interesting! I experience the opposite. I eventually became an animal in SL but I could never be a male. I wonder *why* people choose to be what they are in SL...

1) Paucity of imagination
2) Egotism
3) They actually LIKE who they are in RL

Think of any other good reasons?

I wrote I wonder why people chose who to be in SL, not RL

Ahhh... Im too lazy to upload...

My r/l pic is under my 1st life tab and my av is under my profile.. I think i did a pretty good job of getting close

-> 1) First of all, Paucity is a great word. I typically use 'Dearth' in it's place, but using either of these words shows no lack of haughtiness

-> 2) Egotism, def.="an exaggerated opinion of your own importance". I respond with a quote from The Big Lebowski: "Vee aren't nazis, Leboffski, vee are Nihilists! Vee beleef in nossink!"

-> 3) Strangely, some people actually do like themselves.

What I think is a more important factor is, what is SL to you? Do you think of it as a place to dress up like a Brad Pitt lookalike and parade around like an aspiring thespian, or is SL more an extension of RL, a place to network, socialize and interact over distance and location boundaries that don't exist in SL?

Haha, Herman!

BTW, I actually AM Brad Pitt, but don't tell anyone.

Monalisa, if I'd read more carefully I wouldn't have had as much fun with my post! But your question is a good one, and more interesting really than the narrower one I answered.

In any case, my pride certainly doesn't keep me from making significant improvements over my RL self. What I wouldn't give to have my SL abs in RL, not to mention the youth (sans the typical accompanying foolishness). How nice that in SL, youth is not merely wasted on the young!

I do like my RL, but maybe it's who we feel like we are inside?
I don't really act differently, but Quince looks good without going to the gym for 3 hours a day.

My av used to look like me....but i have just recently changed his face a bit..DOH!!!!...had i seen this thread b4 i did it you would be able to see but never mind heres my AV and heres me....and theres one of my old av's look too...its a VERY early pic though.With regards to weither or not RL is better than SL...in some cases yes in others no...live and let live is what i say...anyhoo its always good to see a cool thread that just begs a response...lol....doh ok no pics sorry...lol...but i am on flickr so compare them on ther...lol...sorry

...

I look EXACTLY like my avatar.

Just saw your profile pic here... I'll have to stalk ya in game to see your av

Here ya go

This project tested the limits of what the SL avatar is capable of duplicating based on a RL model. Note the dramatic differences between the eyes and nose. Those areas required a compromise in texture position and shape (i.e. the nostrils would have folded into the face, had the nose tip been tilted all the way to zero to match the RL shape on the shape slider). Other texture/shape retouches that don't match, like the crease in the brow and the corners of the mouth, were altered deliberately even though they could have remained.

Again, the client gave me permission to show this comparison.

Damn, still, even with the limitations of Second Life, that's pretty damn close. Close enough that you can tell who it was meant to be.

I dunno if I would want my face on my avatar
I like being different in SL than I am in RL

part of the allure for me I guess

There's nothing wrong with looking different. My avatar sometimes looks like a blue lizard-skinned humanoid.

It will be interesting to watch as the technology of the 3D web gets more sophisticated. The distinction between RL and VR will become more blurred. It may become standard proceedure to project our RL self into that VR world in real time down to the most subtle facial expression to communicate effectively. We really don't deal with that level of sophistication now, but may need it when we start mixing both worlds in a relative space/time.

There is a software called "3dmenow". You need to create two mugshots of yourself (sideview, frontview) using a digital camera. Then you fire up the engine... The result is a talking 3d head. Not only the texture is being created but also the mesh. It's amazing how perfectly it fits your face. Even if you use non-human faces it works.

The company that creates the program is called Biovirtual (I think they are related to the BVH animation files SL uses). So the technology is already there! Just integrate this as a feature in SL and voila, you have talking RL heads.

Not everyone would use it though. Many don't WANT to have the same face like in RL.

It's interesting technology, but it looks like it's 'Fossilware'. The company web presence is almost non-existent. The software seems to be geared more towards 2D environments on the web more than true 3D. It has good texture coverage for views about 30 degrees off full front, but not much past that (only front and side shots can be imported). It has some kind of HTML export for building web pages with the animated characters. That's another clue that this was developed in the direction of Web 2D. There does not appear to be any custom UV import capability, so that would rule out any use for SL avatars.

I suspect Biovirtual may have sold the technology to a 3rd party developer much like what LifeF/X did. LifeF/X produces an almost identical technology, although it is more proprietary from a consumer end. You don't get to see much on thier archived web site (http://www.lifefxtechnologies.com/) unless you run Internet Explorer (the only supported web browser).

I bet we see a re-emergence of some aspects of these technologies (facial animation) in the not too distant future within platforms like SL . I think LL, however, is probably holding out for simple and affordable realtime motion capture. That would make sense given they are already moving forward with realtime voice technology. Motion capture is not quite user friendly yet, unless you enjoy sticking little blue pingpong balls all over your face before logging on.

Ok let's take real time motion capture, add voice and add an avatar that looks exaclty like you. If this is the ultimate goal just use a webcam with voice chat. No need to go to SL for that. A virtual world is about fantasy. If I want real faces and real voices I use netmeeting.