This is one of those delightful mashups of software, the web and imagination that doesn’t really have much obvious practical application but is great fun.

MSN China is running the MSN China cartoon beta that will take any photo of you and, with your customizations on the website, turn it into a series of cartoons.

Here’s what it did when I uploaded my photo, the one you see on this blog (top right corner):

Just a selection from the many cartoons (GIF images) you end up with that you can download as a zipfile.

I’m pretty impressed with the technology behind it (love to know how it actually works) as I think the cartoons do have a resemblance to my actual photo. Do you agree? And not bad it could capture features where the original photo has me wearing glasses.

Everything on the MSN cartoon site is in Chinese so, if you don’t speak that language, Inside Microsoft’s video guide is essential.

You must use Internet Explorer, not Firefox or anything else, or nothing works. You’ll also need to accept the installation of an ActiveX plugin.

Have fun!