Background
Jason Rigdon is a 40-year-old man with a colorful and challenging life journey. Originally from Tennessee, he moved to Oklahoma for a brief period and then settled in Texas for 20 years. Jason has been married twice, his first marriage ending in divorce. Professionally, he was on track to become a nurse practitioner in pediatric oncology before a diagnosis of fibromyalgia (chronic pain) deteriorated his health. Moreover, his second marriage was marred by emotional and verbal abuse, a situation that led him to become an advocate for domestic violence survivors. Jason was actually homeless a few months ago. Through it all, Jason found solace and a sense of purpose in creating a 13 episode limited series superhero comic project titled "The Last Son."
Challenge
Jason faced several challenges on his journey to create his limited series. He needed a Superman character that was unsure of himself—a character that mirrored his own life experiences. Another obstacle was finding a reliable faceswap technology. He experimented with products like FaceMagic and Reface, but they fell short of his expectations. Jason needed a product that could create seamless, high-quality faceswaps without requiring a steep learning curve.
Solution
Enter Akool—a state-of-the-art faceswap solution that Jason discovered at CinemaCon. After hearing about its capabilities, he tried it and was immediately impressed. Akool's "stable diffusion" technology provided him with the high-quality faceswaps he had been seeking. Despite initially skimming through the tutorial in his excitement, he found the platform user-friendly and efficient. Jason spent the first weekend understanding how to present clips to Akool’s AI most effectively, and he was delighted to find that the software could easily handle many layers of special effects while still performing accurate face swaps.
Results
Since incorporating Akool into his workflow, Jason has made remarkable progress on his limited series, which is currently running over two hours. He asserts that Akool’s quality is "100 to 200% better" than any other product he has used. The use of Akool has become one of the "brightest moments" in a year marked by deep grief for Jason. Now, instead of taking years to complete his project, he anticipates finishing by the end of the year. His YouTube channel, JayWalking Games, has gained 500 followers, and he is looking forward to discussing licensing with DC Comics.
Why Akool?
Jason chose Akool for its technological superiority, user-friendliness, and impressive results. While other products required him to put on a color grid to detect faces, Akool managed to identify and swap faces even with layered special effects. He also appreciated the possibility of organizing and sharing materials and results within the software interface.
Conclusion
Jason Rigdon's life story is a blend of personal challenges and a deep-seated passion for storytelling. Akool not only provided a technical solution but also offered emotional and creative redemption for him. With its superior technology, Akool has empowered Jason to turn his creative visions into a reality that could potentially serve as a beacon of hope for others who have endured similar challenges.