Japanese brides buying £932 3D printed clones so they can be immortalised on their special day
For the Japanese, a wedding photo album is so passé.
Instead, Tokyo's brides are purchasing 3D dolls which are exact replicas of themselves as they appear on their special day.
The Clone Factory in Akhibara creates versions of real people and even pets.
The high-tech process involves multiple digital SLR cameras taking photos of a person’s or animal’s head from different angles, computers stitching the pictures and data together and a special 3D printer using layers of plaster and ink to mould the 3D sculptures.
Priced at £932 (138,000 Japanese yen), the lifelike 3D-printed dolls are unbelievably detailed and immortalise the model.
Though the outcome is somewhat eerie, the cloning service is especially popular among Japanese women looking to preserve a special moment in life such as their wedding day.
They clone their hair, make-up and even the dress they wore for the complete look.
The factory advises people from abroad who fancy owning a clone of themselves to book their session a few days in advance of their trip, as the factory needs this time to prepare.
Japanese blogger Danny Choo, who runs the Culture Japan website, went down to the Factory to try out the machine and report on the process of being 'cloned'.
At the start of the clone doll creation process, Danny was instructed to sit still in a chair in the middle of the room is surrounded by digital SLR cameras - with even some on the ceiling.
Multiple cameras then began looping around his head and rays started taking 'slices of measurements'. This process lasted only a few seconds.
Once all the data was prepared, his clone was printed with a ZPrinter 650 using layers of ink which harden in a tray of plaster where the clone is born.
When the process is complete, the tray of plaster remains completely unchanged on the surface.
The final product is then covered in a top coat for protection.
The cloning product is called Jibun-san (自分さん) - which roughly translated as 'Me'.
The surface of the printed objects can be slightly rough due to the limitations of the printer. Smoother surfaces can be achieved by using more expensive printers such as one called Digital Wax, which prints baby smooth surfaces.
A few days after the production process, Danny's clone was ready for collection and as requested, embodies his head atop a Star Wars Storm Trooper figurine.