It seems to me that there should, and is bound to be, a way to digitize 3-dimensional images such as people or figurines. The idea which runs through my head involves something which would possibly include some form of animation. Of course, the memory requirements would be astounding, but the idea seems valid.

Basically, what I have in mind is creating 3-dimensional figurines and busts and such, scanning them with a laser to get a 3-dimensional computer representation of it, coloring it with some art program, and then subjecting it to what I believe is called raster conversion (a programming type which takes models described in three dimensions and then adds light and shadows to them just as natural light does, resulting in an amazingly realistic picture).

I suppose the idea I have concerns the possibility of making some form of animation with this, or at least tinkering with it.

Of course, this would also allow me to make sculptures of the major characters in Arumaea and then make very realistic portraits of them using this technique.