Second Life 2.0 Awesomeness: Stream Live Webcam Video of Your Real Head on Your Second Life Avatar!

The new Second Life viewer comes with a shared media function which lets you put interactive web content on SL objects. The possibilities, of course, are endless. You can, for instance, put a website with a whiteboard program on it, and collaboratively draw on it. That's pretty ninja. Still more ninja is this hack from Giulio Prisco: Put your live webcam stream on a prim, and put that prim on your avatar's head. Now you have live video of your facial reactions as you interact in Second Life, broadcast into Second Life where your virtual head should be. Can you think of an even more ninja application of the shared media function than that? (Hat tip: Jeanricard Broek.)

Comments

[Fogwoman Gray]

Wooot! Although I think I would rather put mine on a prim inside a bell jar...

[Rodion Resistance]

Well, have you ever played PACMAN on an apple?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPT1ddyGKy8

oh the apple thing is towards the end of the vid, sorry for letting you watch the other "boring" parts of the video hehe :)

-RODION

[spyvspyaeon]

crazy thing dude. Could I wear my Nike and stream on my weird avatar feet? :P would be interesting wear a real nike (instead of fake sl copies lmao)

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

Coming soon: IDcam. See INSIDE your RL head.

Oh, wait...isn't that already a key part of SL culture?

[Crap Mariner]

I remember Filthy Fluno screwing around with this concept back in 2007...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/isfullofcrap/2107938659/

But now it can be done on-the-fly regardless of media stream.

Coolness.

-ls/cm

[ArminasX]

I tried doing this last night, but the results weren't pretty.

[Turnips]

ArminasX, you should've put your makeup on.

[Ann Otoole]

I'll just put a zombie monster on a prim and nobody will be able to tell the difference anyway...

[loki]

The banalization of SL continues apace. How long before I'm assaulted by some griefer running a loop of "Two Girls, One Cup" where his avatar face should be?

[Komuso Tokugawao]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1oAD8jPic&feature=player_embedded

[Doreen Garrigus]

Ok, is anybody else creeped out by this concept?

[Moriz Gupte]

Absolutely love new version of viewer. All feedback is good, negative and positive. Feedback tells you about more about users and where are coming from and why they say what they say.
Anyway, this 'trick' rl video to replace avatar head is the first reflex we think of. Check out Massive project (UK) 1995 or earlier..except that rl video was mapped on head model, not cube. There are many other possibilities like described here in my idea about video bubbles
http://tr.im/Q1B0

[Giulio Prisco]

@Moritz: it seems that your video bubbles idea can be easily implemented in SL2.0. Quoting from my comment to your video bubbles post:

http://My experience trying to sell SL projects to corporate and educational clients tells me that an alternative form of user representation, a bubble with a live webcam video feed, would be a useful option. What many users really want is a collaboration space where one can see others and co-work on documents.

Video bubbles would permit retaining all the advantages of a shared 3D environment while offering a representation that would be perceived as more “serious” or “businesslike” (you know what I mean) by many. Also, at this moment we cannot precisely control avatars but we can and do control our faces and hands.

Note: I am not proposing, by any means, abandoning avatars for video bubbles. I am proposing introducing video bubbles as an alternative option.

Notes:
Geometrically simple avatars would also reduce lag, which is one of the most important technical issues in SL. Reduced lag would improve the user experience a lot.
I really wish to wear an avatar without gender or age related cues. These are important for some users, but irrelevant and distracting for others.

So I am waiting for somebody to develop a bubble avatar. Now that we have an easy way to paste a video texture on a SL prim, this will be much simpler. But all "simple shape" avatars that I have seen must be wrapped around a small humanoid avatar -- I look forward to seeing a native spherical avatar, without any underlying humanoid shape.

[Giulio Prisco]

Could I wear my Nike and stream on my weird avatar feet?

Wait... I have an even better idea ;-)

[Giulio Prisco]

I have refined my first demo and made a video bubble avatar as described by Moritz' video bubble post. FYC:

http://giulioprisco.blogspot.com/2010/02/video-bubbles-in-second-life-20.html