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PREPARE yourself for immortality as the star of a personalised Japanese . KinEmotion software uses the Microsoft Kinect sensor to take 3D pictures of you as you pose – perhaps shaking a fist in anger, or with your arms raised in victory. KinEmotion then creates a whimsical, manga-style rendition of the image.

It looks for telltale details to work out what emotion you are expressing, and how strongly you feel it. These giveaways may be the angle between your upper and lower arm, or even “the tilt of your pelvis”, says developer Akihiko Shirai at Kanagawa Institute of Technology in Atsugi.

Once it has guessed your state of mind, KinEmotion pulls up a relevant backdrop from a library to complement your character’s emotive stance. For instance, your victory could be signalled by a sunburst effect behind you, or a depressed, defeated pose could have a grey, cloudy overcast backdrop.

The technology lets people quickly compile and print out their own multi-frame and “immerse their imagination in manga world”, says Shirai. The system was demonstrated at last week’s computer graphics convention in Anaheim, California.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Be the star of your very own manga comic”