Card business · first experiments · 24 to 25 September 2026

Putting real people into a 3D card

Before the space station, we tried to turn an ordinary phone photo into a living card: a cartoon 3D figure made from the photo, the photo itself popped out with depth, and the photo brought to life inside a picture frame. These are the original test pictures and captures, exactly as they were made.

The couple and the woman are AI-made stand-ins for a customer's upload, not real people. Nothing here was newly generated.

Try them yourself

The real cards, live

These are the working 3D cards, not pictures. On a computer, move the mouse over the card to tilt it. On a phone, tap the card once, allow motion if it asks, then tilt the phone. Tap her to wave, tap the lawn to walk, switch the photo's background, tap the Christmas frame.

3D figure →Photo with depth →Christmas room →

The starting photo

A casual garden-party selfie, the kind a customer would upload. Every test below starts from this one picture.

Smiling couple cheek to cheek at a garden party at sunset — **Stand-in upload.** Sam and Aino, golden hour, string lights behind.

First ideas, as pictures

Concept pictures of what a personalised card could look like, made before anything was built. They are mock-ups, not working cards.

8 picturesabout $0.29 in total

Photoreal anniversary card mock-up — **Photoreal.** The couple as they are, leaning out of a foil frame.

Animated-film style birthday card mock-up — **Animated film.** The couple restyled as cartoon characters.

Clay style anniversary card mock-up — **Clay.** The couple as stop-motion figures on a bench.

Template birthday card on a phone — **Template.** No likeness, just the words.

Papercut new-baby card on a phone — **Papercut.** Layered paper scene, no likeness.

Photoreal card tilted on a phone in a hand — **Tilt on a phone.** The hoped-for depth when you tilt.

Couple stepping out of the card — **Pop-out.** The couple stepping out of the card.

Photo split into depth layers — **Layers.** The photo split into slices at different depths.

A photo turned into a 3D figure

The woman from the photo, redrawn as a cartoon, then turned into a rigged 3D model that stands on a painted lawn. Tap her and she waves; tap the lawn and she walks there, then turns back to you.

cartoon redraw $0.113D model with skeleton and wave $1.52, 354 smodel 8 MB

Woman redrawn as a cartoon — Cartoon redraw

Cartoon woman standing arms out — Arms-out pose for modelling

Painted birthday garden lawn — Painted lawn behind

On the live card

Figure standing on the lawn — **Idle.** Breathing gently.

Figure walking away — **Tap the lawn.** She walks there.

Figure arrived, facing the viewer — **Arrived.** Turns back to face you.

What we learned

First reaction: Love it. On a closer look the waving squashed her face, her feet did not sit on the lawn, and the flat painted background had no depth. The bigger worry: inventing a real person's body shape risks looking odd to them.

Try the live 3D figure →

The photo itself, popped out with depth

The couple cut out of their photo and given real depth, so the card shifts as you tilt the phone. Two versions: their own garden behind them, or a pre-made mountain scene.

cut-out $0.01, 8 sdepth map free, 27 sper card about $0.01

Black and white mask of the couple — Who is in front

Couple cut out on a transparent background — Couple cut out

Grey depth map of the photo — Depth map (near is light)

The garden with the couple removed — Garden without them

Version B's mountain set, built once in three layers and reused for every card

Far mountain range and lake — **Far.** Peaks and lake.

Middle forested ridge — **Middle.** Forested ridge.

Front wildflower ledge — **Front.** Wildflower ledge hiding the cut-out's lower edge.

On the live card, tilted

Garden version tilted left — **A, own garden.** Tilt left.

Garden version tilted right — **A, own garden.** Tilt right.

Mountain version tilted left — **B, mountains.** Tilt left.

Mountain version level — **B, mountains.** Level.

Mountain version tilted right — **B, mountains.** Tilt right.

What we learned

The 3D photoreal effect is not a goer. A photo holds nothing past its own edges, so the depth always looks cut off unless AI invents the rest; real depth wants moving 3D people in the scene, not a flat photo. Dropped for good on 25 September.

Try the live photo with depth →

A living photo, two ways

Keep the photo exactly as it is, and bring the faces to life. A: an AI video made from the photo, looping back to it. B: only the faces change, using a handful of still expressions stitched together in the card.

A: 5 s video $0.56, 202 sB: 10 face stills, about $0.01 each

A. AI video. Faces stay faithful; gentle head and smile movement. No wave, because it would have invented a hand.

Sequence of the couple's faces blinking and smiling — **B. Faces only.** Blinks and smiles laid back over the untouched photo.

Close-up showing no visible seam around the face — **B. Faces only.** Blinks and smiles laid back over the untouched photo.

B's face stills: normal, half blink, eyes shut, smile, smile with eyes

What we learned

B felt more real, but not natural enough yet: blinks not at a human rate, smiles that snapped on and off, and too little body sway.

The living photo in a Christmas room

Where it led: the living photo hangs in a gilt frame above a painted fireplace, with fire, snow, twinkling lights and a little cat that walks in. Tap the picture and it floats forward to fill the card.

room made once, about $0.27per card: 28 face stills

Three views of the Christmas card: the room, the cat walking in, and the framed photo brought forward — **Left to right:** the room at rest, the cat walking in, the photo brought forward.

What we learned

We're very impressed with what you have achieved. Keeping the photo true, inside a living scene, became the direction, and led to the painted frames and then the space station.

Try the live Christmas room →