The “soul extractor”, as the workers at A-fun Interactive call it, is a small white room. In the centre is a stool surrounded by a metal frame dotted with more than 40 digital cameras. I picked my way gingerly over a tangle of cables and took a seat. A few moments later there was a countdown and then the sound of shutters clacking.
By the time I got up and walked to the control room a few metres away, I could already see myself partially rendered on a screen. Within a few minutes there I was, in excruciating detail. The technician zoomed in and you could see the cracks on my lips. You could see the hairs I thought I’d shaved that morning.
A-fun Interactive is located in an office building in a commercial district in Seoul, South Korea. I came to visit because its state of the art 3D rendering technology is being used to power a fast-expanding universe of digital celebrities: computer-generated models, pop stars and influencers who are gaining an unlikely foothold in the real world.