Neverwinter Nights 2: Character Portraits: 2d versus 3d

As most know, 3d portraits will be implemented with NWN 2 versus the old-styled 2d portraits of NWN 1. Nathaniel Chapman gives a bit of insight into how 3d portraits will be created in NWN2:

We use 3D snapshots of your characters, which incorporate your currently equipped armor/helmet, actual hair and tint selections, etc. Now that we have character models that look really really good, it seems wasteful to generate a ton of 2D art that looks nothing like your in-game models.

As for customization, someone earlier in the thread said it well - there are a lot of customization options to make characters look different.

Read the thread here.