Remember the opening scene of StarWars movie that made you feel like a little bug under the belly of a huge beast?

When I was a child, I would take ordinary things around the house and examine them closely, not as one would look at it with a microscope, but looking at it like an ant or a fly might see while crawling or flying across it's surface.  What I enjoyed was the different perspective and its effect on me.  Mere dented pots and pans suddenly transformed into spaceships or spacestations, and those ugly dents on the outer hull had a lot of stories to tell.  Aside from my parents worrying about me spending hours alone with a frying pan in hand, it was magical times for me.

I wish I could do the same with products sold at e-tail websites or auction sites.  Unfortunately, not even quality static pictures of products are readily available.  Innovative e-tailers like Zappos are improving shopper experience but it's still far from my vision of satisfying shopping experience.

Is this a moneymaker?  I think it is for expensive products like Gucci bags.  If you see those bags very closely with lights glinting off each bumps in the leather texture, they look far more substantial than they really are.  3D model and texture database of products is also valuable IP.

Can it be done?  Definitely.  You will need even more high resolution textures than yet to be released Doom 3, but next version of DirectX will break open most of the limitations that made it difficult.

It won't be long before shoppers will be flying around the things they are interested in buying.  Hmm.  If you are a guy, wouldn't you want to hover across the surface of Planet Halle Berry?  Captain!  I am experiencing stronger than usual turbulence between her cleavages.

Yeah, yeah.  I know I am weird and I like it that way.