1. A method for constructing an avatar of a human subject, the method comprising: acquiring a depth map of the human subject; obtaining a virtual skeleton of the human subject based on the depth map; harvesting from the virtual skeleton a set of characteristic metrics corresponding to distances between predetermined points of the virtual skeleton; providing the characteristic metrics as input to an algorithm trained using machine learning, the algorithm having been trained using at least one single human being in a range of poses and a range of human beings in a single pose, to output a virtual body mesh as a function of the characteristic metrics; refining the virtual body mesh by varying the characteristic metrics to decrease distance between points on the depth map and corresponding points of the virtual body mesh; constructing a virtual head mesh, distinct from the virtual body mesh, with facial features resembling those of the human subject; and connecting the virtual body mesh to the virtual head mesh.