Toronto Star
Avatars for all! Toronto Startup lets you Create Fully Animated 3D Characters of Yourself
BY AMANDA COSCO
This article originally appeared in the Toronto Star on Tuesday, January 31, 2017. View the original on the Star’s website here
While most of us are used to the idea of maintaining a digital persona on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, the way we convey ourselves in these spaces is limited to video, images, and text. But where do “we” — as human bodies — exist on the Internet?
As digital technology becomes more immersive, one Toronto startup is working to give our physical selves better representation online. ItsMe is a virtual identity company with a mission to turn everyone into avatars. By combining technologies such as digital photography, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, the Toronto-based startup is able to take 360-degree photos of subjects and turn them into digital forms, otherwise known as avatars.
These mini representations of ourselves are then made available as gifs through the ItsMe app for sharing with friends and personalizing conversations. The app is currently available for both iOS and Android users.
While my visit ItsMe’s Spadina Ave. studio led to being dropped into a ’90s dance party, there are business use cases for avatars outside gaming and entertainment. Software companies such as ItsMe can licence their technology across industries, from advertising to communications to retail. In future, avatars may be used to participate in conference meetings or for virtually trying on clothes for easier online shopping.
“Avatar” is a Sanskrit word that literally translated means “to cross.” My crossing over from person to avatar begins by stepping inside a 100-square-foot cylinder rig equipped with dozens of bright lights and 70 tiny digital cameras. I’m instructed to stand in the centre of the room, place my feet on two markers, and hold my arms out from my body as if I’m carrying grocery bags in either hand. I’m told this is so the cameras can differentiate my limbs from my torso and capture as much detail of me as possible. The scanning is free to the public and only takes an instant.
ItsMe isn’t the only startup shaping our sense of self online. Bitstrips is a Toronto-based animation company that allows users to make personalized emoji — known as Bitmoji — to share with friends. In March of 2016, Bitstrips was acquired by Snap Inc. for $100 million. More recently, San Francisco-based Loom.ai made noise when it raised $1.35 million to transform people into 3D avatars from selfies. Their team of ex-Hollywood creatives is developing an automated software that uses information from a single selfie to craft avatars that are lifelike and can be animated for messaging, games, e-commerce, and social VR.
“One of the biggest limitations of VR right now is the fact that it’s so isolating” says Ramona Pringle, director of the Transmedia Zone at Ryerson University. Her work focuses on the relationship between humans and technology. “If you look at the most successful technologies of the last decade, they’ve been social — the things that connect us to one another. The next frontier for VR will be connected experiences,” she says. “Imagine you can be home and connect to a party, nightclub, or concert in VR. These gatherings only work if there’s the opportunity to engage with 3D representations of real people so you can recognize your friends in the virtual environment.”
The technology isn’t perfect yet (my avatar looks less human and more like a character on The Sims) but it’s a step toward what could be a newly fashioned form of digital personhood. For now, I’m happy to dance the funky chicken with Paul Mason.
After my 360-degree image is snapped, I step outside the room to watch my avatar being built on a large screen mounted on the exterior of the rig. On the screen, I witness computer algorithms stitching together the dozes of images of me to make a complete rendering. The algorithms smooth over my skin to make it more lifelike, and locate my skeleton to map my movements. Moments later, digital “me” is doing things I never imagined, like dancing the Thriller dance in perfect unison with other avatars, or landing a perfect backflip in heels.
I download the ItsMe app and install a keyboard extension on my phone. I now have a personal pack of gifs of my avatar expressing different emotions that I can share with friends or on social media: In one gif, my avatar spins in the air, Matrix-style, with the words “BRING IT” written out below; In another, the words “WORK” are written across the background with my avatar twerking in front.
Now that I have a way to represent myself online, the next step is to test out my new digital body in virtual reality. I strap on an HTC Vive headset and am instantly transported to a ’90s dance party complete with a disco ball and glow sticks. Along the wall of the dance floor, there’s a mirror where I can check out my virtual reflection. I can also look down and see my own body with my real tattoos. Surrounding me are avatars of others who have been captured. To my right, a woman in full spandex grooves to the music, while to my left, Toronto model Paul Mason dances the funky chicken. For the purposes of this demonstration, the other avatars are computer generated, but the idea is that one day each of us could be participating in the dance party in real-time from our living rooms.