A venture company is producing a wearable mask that exactly replicates the subject's face, making it just like looking in the mirror.
Real-f Co. in the city’s Sakamoto district has been attracting an increasing number of customers in Japan and abroad with its highly refined masks that re-create even the pores and the blood vessels of the eyes.
Real-f President Osamu Kitagawa, 56, said he hopes to see the technology applied for other uses.
“I feel this technique is something that has been seriously sought after in the field of medicine,” Kitagawa said. “I want to help those who are in need.”
Kitagawa founded the company in June 2011 after developing the process, called 3-D photo form.
Real-f's wearable piece of art using digital 3-D technology and the 3-DPF technique became popular for creating a striking likeness of the subject.
The company receives about 100 orders a year mainly from advertising and entertainment agencies. The standard delivery time is two weeks to two months.
A custom-made “Realface” is priced at 300,000 yen ($2,400).
Last November, Real-f received an order from a construction company in Saudi Arabia for reliefs of the country’s king and his family.
Real-f workers first created data using exclusive software from photos the client had sent. Then the information was processed to create prototype plaster figures using a 3-D printer.
After working on the details using a carving knife, a plaster cast was made and resin was cast to harden the mold.
Four white replicas of the king’s family have been completed as of July 3, looking like they could come to life at any moment.
The faces will be bronzed in Saudi Arabia before being displayed around the ceiling of a bank in Riyadh, the nation’s capital.
Kitagawa said he has been receiving an increasing number of inquiries from researchers of facial recognition systems, from people who have facial scars due to accidents and surgery, and those in the field of medicine.
Kitagawa aims to develop a new process for transferring printed photos into safer and softer material.
The company also creates “Popface” photos, 3-D pop-out face photos of cats, dogs that are like pop-up books and fish figures.
By Rei Oku / The Asahi Shimbun
