Virtual Models Come To Life

K. turned us on to this one: an announcement by Elite, the world's largest model agency, about a new division they've set up that supplies nothing but computer-generated models. Plastic surgeons may be in trouble if this catches on, but we all knew it was inevitable. The idea has been an SF staple since the 1930s, but this is the first time that computer-generated, animated models have been offered by a big-time modeling agency as a serious alternative to real, flesh-and-blood (and silicon) supermodels. I'd go into more detail, but you can get it all by going directly to the press release.

Comments

Movies mirrored here

[mulle]

Just in case anybody wants them...

body.mpg
hipwag1.mpg
hipwag2.mpg
hipwag3.mpg
walk-1-dress.mpg
walk-2-dress.mpg
walk-3-dress.mpg

speech.mpg is over 5 megs but I'll upload it as soon as I get it here.

I Was a Teenage Modeling Student

[fable2112]

Back when I was a skinny 13-year-old wannabe actress in dire need of learning to be graceful, I was interviewed by a modeling school and told that I "had the look" and would be a wonderful model.

My family paid almost $1000 for the classes -- and that didn't include the high heeled shoes I had to bring so I could learn to walk gracefully in them, or the makeup and makeup brushes we were "required" to have, or the photo sessions.

None of it ever went anywhere, of course. And now that I'm a not-quite-skinny 21-year-old, I'm told that I'd be a good artist's model or perhaps "large size" model (I really hate that term -- the average woman wears a size 14, folks -- try "average-sized" model).

I agree with the person who pointed out that giving teenagers CGI models to "measure up" to is likely to cause more problems. It's bad enough that in some cases, men with padded bras are considered "better" models for women's clothing than WOMEN are, because men can get down to a lower % body fat without it causing health problems.

Sorry for the rant -- this just brought up some bad memories.