Show HN: Facemodel, create 3D models of your head from a selfie | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Facemodel, create 3D models of your head from a selfie

facemodel.me

7 pointsaxg1112 comments

So, the only comments you are getting seem to be about pricing and sign-up.

The reason you'd give somebody a free demo is so you can show what the product does.

I get that it is GPU intensive, and therefore cost prohibitive if you got lots of traction, but as you have it now, you haven't provided enough proof of what you've done here.

So, if you don't want to offer people the ability to upload and create their own 3D model, how about a video showing it being done, a few samples that are more than just a single photo of a face which is then applied to what looks like a fairly generic head.

I don't have anything to view your model file with. Can you make a webviewer, or at least a video showing you rotating the model or SOMETHING.

Also, you say $5/month but what would I do with that subscription? How many models am I going to create from a selfie? Why would I do that?

I've made the service free for now - I'd like people to use it to get feedback on the models themselves. I'm also looking into adding a webviewer - that is a great point.

Cool, if you're looking to get a bit more publicity, it might be cool for you to do a post on usage numbers of protected vs free. It's common that people try to do a "sign-up first" version, only to discover it is difficult to get interest.

Though a web-viewer is great, even just a video capture showing you moving around a model would be a good start.

It would be much better to generate a three.js compatible model and put that rendering on the download page. That .usdz file is useless to anyone outside of the iOS ecosystem. At least provide a more universal model format.

If nothing else, put something to read on the site. This is selling an identity projecting product. The non-technologists it will attract will be people wanting to act out imagined realities with their identity. Simply descriptive prose of this giving customers the ability to be themselves and bring their friends, realistically, into other realities is a huge selling point. Use it.

Great feedback. I will improve the copy - as you said, it's currently aimed at technologists. It looks like three.js is able to load .glb files (a format I can easily generate with the current pipeline) so I will try to add a three.js based viewer.

Something like this would be cool as a tool/plugin on Blender or something. That way I think you can target people who may be willing to pay for it. As a web service though, a pay as you use model might be a better fit.

Best of luck.

Why do I need an account to use this?

Great question. The account only exists to manage the payment and subscription. I toyed with the idea of providing the service for free but it is very compute intensive. Each model takes approximately 20-30s on a modern GPU.

Thanks for that explanation!

Hmmm... I did this startup idea in '08. Counterintuitively, nobody wants to pay for something like this. I charged less than a dollar, (my compute was less than 3 seconds for a complete full body avatar, btw) and the quality was significantly higher than here. Check out what's left: https://twitter.com/3DAvatarStore/media I had full bodies, extensive facial editing, Maya rigs, automated lip sync, hair/wigs and clothing, export in known game formats... you need to provide a shit ton of free, and then educate the end-user constantly because this type of tech attracts a lot of low tech consumers.

$5 and I need an account before I even try it?

Get lost.

Sorry that you feel it's bad value. What would an appropriate price point be for you? There is an example 3D model on the homepage - that should give you an idea of how the output will look like.

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