say what you want about mark Zuckerberg but he had the insight to buy instagram before it became big, whatsapp and other companies, so when he invests 10s of billions in the Meta verse, you have to let him cook.

in a 2022 meta connect demo zuckerberg showcased a new type of avatar called codec avatar, its basically a full 360 3d realtime render of a person.

in the demo cameras a used to scan your body and a 3d model of you is generated with proper uv maps and textures. these 3 things can be used for other things like

the 3d mesh can be used as a base for cloth simulations in case you wanted to change the clothes you are wearing in Realtime, and you can project other things like brand logos or new fabric on the uv maps to have it appear on your avatar.

though to pull this off, the setup seems to including an expensive array of camera in all directions, not something for regular consumers like me and you but imagine a boutique store with a 360 volumetric video booth like this, where you don’t need to tryout any clothes you just select them on screen and see how they will look on you in real time, these could be a great replacement for mirrors.

they also showcased a lite version of this that uses your phone camera to generate an upper body avatar in realtime.

This may have the more practical use than the 360 volumetric video booth, it can archive half the results without a lot of hardware.

imagine waking past a billboard and you see a reflection of you but dressed in a luxury brand like luis Vuitton or channel. On this billboard you are the model now, and there could be a buy now button somewhere use could use to order, they have your 3d scan, your face and likely your identification. you can tap your phone and buy now with an nfc enabled phone.

while the meta verse mail fail as a concept, the technology developed on the way is what we should be looking out for.