(Philip Lelyveld comment: Big Stage, which can create a personal avator from 1 or 2 pictures of you and have them wander from website to website, was founded and developed by Disney Imagineer Jon Snoddy.)
Integration of Facial Animation Technology with Cross-Platform Avatar Creation Tools Signals a New Era of Personal Expression in Online and Mobile Communities
Image Metrics, a leading provider of facial animation technology for the entertainment industry, has acquired Big Stage's premier platform for consumer avatar creation services. Big Stage was honored in 2009 by Forbes magazine as one of America's top 20 Most Promising Companies. Its software allows consumers to instantly transform photographs into realistic 3-D, animated characters to represent themselves in virtual worlds, video games, video clips and online communities.
See the original post here.