Hands-off shoe fitting

A Paris shop has put an end to the tiresome procedure of putting on and taking off shoes: Instead of trying on dozens of pairs, the customer simply stands in front of a virtual mirror. On his foot, he can see his favorite model with the red stripes, he then selects the gold leather alternative for comparison. This entertaining form of shopping can be found on the Avenue des Champs Elysées, where Adidas has opened its most modern shop anywhere in the world. Unlike a conventional mirror, it does not display a true reflection. Instead, a camera captures the customer's feet and legs and displays them as a video scene on the monitor. The various shoe models are inserted into this picture. "Thanks to the 3-D image processing techniques developed at the HHI, the software is so fast that it can follow the customer's movements in real time", says Jürgen Rurainsky, one of the virtual mirror's developers.

Source: physorg.comAdded: 8 March 2007