For the first High Tech Eureka of the series, Fearne and Kate unveiled some new technology that's changing the world of computer games like The Sims, which you can see opposite.

It'll soon be possible to place yourself as the main character in a computer game, all thanks to this. It may look like an ordinary photo booth but it's actually a clone generator!

Instead of taking a flat photo like this, it's able to produce a three dimensional image.

To use the clone generator, you enter a gaming name on a keypad. Then you load a blank recordable CD in the drive.

Once inside, you simply have to sit back, line up your eyes and press a button. Your face is scanned in a fraction of a second!

So how does it create an accurate 3D image? Well, it has three cameras. One takes a detailed note of all the colours in the face being photographed.

The other two cameras work in a similar way to human eyes. If you hold a finger up in front of your face, and close one eye then the other, the finger appears to move from one side of your nose to another. But open both eyes, and the images merge to create one image.

So, just as the human brain merges what the eyes see, the software of the clone generator merges what the two cameras see to create one image with an incredible sense of depth.

Once the camera has captured a 3D image, it can be used to create a completely new computer game character.

The face can be inflated...

...or deflated.

Even scars can be added!

The face is then given a helmet. The file containing the 3D image is saved onto the CD, so that you can take it away and download onto a computer.

Here you can see the 3D cloned Kate. She can be made to run, or crawl, or swim. She can even do the long jump!

The clone generator should be available in the UK during 2002. Once it is, you'll be able to add your clone to an internet gallery of others and even play against them.

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