This technology isn’t new, but has made some improvements over the years.
An algorithm can predict the profile of your face and automatically generate an avatar. These techniques are fairly representative of the current state of the art for social VR applications.
Avatars in the VR Development Industry
Many VR applications are being used broadly to “teach by experience”. These frequently require hiring actors to create engaging, immersive, and believable situations in VR. The content is all pre-recorded or “canned” allowing users to either experience choreographed scenes (similar to a movie) or trigger different interactions similar to NPCs in videogames.
There are tools being used now, such as Reallusion, that enable even the smallest teams to create realistic characters with fully expressive voice acting.
Reallusion provides two powerful tools. One is their character creator that allows you to manually create 3D character models and the other is an iphone app called iClone that allows you to record the character’s face in real time.