Big Stage: Star in Your Favorite Movie

LAS VEGAS--Have you ever fantasized about playing the Humphrey Bogart character Rick in Casablanca, or Holly Golightly, the chic waif played by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany? With the avatar creation technology demo'd here by a startup called Big Stage, you might someday be able to fill in for your favorite film stars or video game characters.

Using three head-and-shoulders photographs taken at slightly different angles, Big Stage can create a realistic looking avatar of anyone, according to company founder and CEO Jonathan Strietzel.

Here, for example, is a photograph of Strietzel:

And here's the avatar the Big Stage beta created using that photo and two others taken at slight angles (all images were provided by Big Stage):

Some people might want to use their avatar in Second Life or other 3D virtual worlds, Strietzel said. But even people who don't care about virtual worlds might enjoy seeing their avatar digitally inserted into films and videos. Here's Streitzel's avatar as the hero of the video game Gears of War:

Strietzel, who was invited to demo Big Stage during Intel CEO Paul Ottelini's CES keynote, says the company is talking to major studios and game creators about using the technology to wring yet additional revenue from their content. It's an idea that could well prove lucrative.

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