By: Kelvin Turins
The ‘itseez3D’ team has done it again with the release of the Avatar software development kit (SDK). While previous methods of producing 3D avatars required a lot of resources, the launch of this platform makes it all easier. The time required for a “full render” has also been reduced drastically to no more than a few seconds. The labor aspect of it has altogether been cancelled out.
The Avatar SDK is able to produce 3D avatars from 2D photos. The photos in question can be selfies or even portraits clearly showing the front of the face so as to show the person’s best features. The end result is quite the realistic avatar representation of a person. The SDK uses a deep learning algorithm to predict some of the features that may not be visible from a portrait or from a selfie point of view.
Such features include the shape of the head, the texture of the face, the length of the nose & the form of the lips. The resulting avatars can be used for any number of purposes. From Virtual Reality to gaming, mobile applications, movies, & even for university projects. The produced avatars can also be merged with body models that the user will have to outsource.
The project was officially announced in December 2016 by the CEO of the parent company Victor Erukhimov, & the beta version launched in April 2017. The SDK has undergone significant improvements & additions since its launch inclusive of a Unity plugin. The SDK is also available on a number of platforms namely Android, windows, MACOSX and IOS.
For the most part, the SDK will work fine Online due to its remarkably lightweight, & most devices won’t have a problem running the program. On the other hand, if anyone would like to use the SDK offline then there are going to be some requirements on the RAM.
The avatars produced are powered by an AI & provide a few options in terms of facial expressions. This is made possible by the blendshape facial animations feature. There are also 6 predefined hairstyles that you could recolor according to your preferences.
There are various subscription plans for users depending on their regular needs. There is also a free package that offers 50 watermarked avatars for testing & evaluating.
– This is a startup profile based on publicly available material & not a review –
Image Credit: itseez3D
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