The net is hysterically flapping its wings overa video that portends to show a man flying . Flying like a bird ! But is it real ? There ’s no consensus , but George Lucas ’ CGI masterminds say it ’s a big avian hoax .
https://gizmodo.com/man-flies-like-a-bird-flapping-his-own-wings-update-6-5894904
We spoke withRyan Martin , Technical Director at preeminent Industrial Light & Magic , who not only offered his own take , but that of over a dozen coworkers . He ask me to forgive the delay in their response because they ’ve “ all been pretty in use polish off up The Avengers . ” Yeah .
Here ’s their case :
Okay , so I do n’t see any glaring visual problem , but that ’s expected when the quality is as shitty as this . But that ’s the first thing that make me wonder its authenticity . They ’re able-bodied to afford to build this thing , but ca n’t invest in proper video equipment , or … a tripod . If I were to make a fake video with the design of going viral , I would make certain that the quality was as poor as possible to mask any flaw in poor cg work . Another big visual issue I have with this video recording is the stability of his brain during flight . Try and keep your head that still while wave your weapon system up and down when they are n’t attached to a giant wing gismo . Still , it seems almost too mad to be fake and I was unable to notice other dazzling fault with the video . So , I ’ve question our entire facility because we have some pretty surprisingly sassy people here . Here ’s what some of them had to say :
Employee 1 : “ without a dubiety , faux ”
Employee 2 ( also a pilot ) “ the camera seems very strange . I know that when I am flying in an plane , I do n’t look flat in the lead all of the prison term . Also , the only room masses have been able to propel themselves above the ground have been by wheel arrangements to power a fixed - fender aircraft . A human powered helicopter managed 10 seconds of flight about 5 inch above the ground . The legs are much more powerful than the weaponry .
I have serious uncertainty about it just on the physics and physiology level alone . “
Employee 3 : “ I agree , I saw that earlier today . I ca n’t spot any glaring visual problems , but the purgative just do n’t add up . ”
Employee 4 : “ Bad physics , shivering cam with bad focus ( always a giveaway ) and the most steady head I ’ve ever seen on a guy beat his arm to not break off every bone in his physical structure . FAKE . ”
Employee 5 : “ check out this TV
and some others … .
http://www.humanbirdwings.net/my-recent-videos/
he is talking about the motors that wait on his flying , so he is n’t flapping all by himself .
if its a put-on , its a pretty elaborate hoax , because he has been trying t build up cartel for month before hired man . ”
Employee 6 : ” it is a thing of weight ratio ! Have a facial expression at the gossamer condor surface region of the wing to sustain flying at 1.5 miles an hour . ”
Employee 7 : “ 18 February 2025,For weeks I have been program the HTC phone and the Wii remote control to work together to allow them roll my wings in the right movement . ”,,http://www.humanbirdwings.net / project - timeline/ ” I ’ve had my wiimote just shut off of a sudden without any warning . vocalise like marketing bs or soon to be give Darwin laurels . ”
Employee 8 : “ I always see gliders taking off ( Fort Funston in Daly City ) and It does n’t look correct to me :
– the motion of the wings and physics looks bogus to me . the flap movement is uncanny to me .
– the extension fabric , totally looks like cloth pretending . the cloth look structurally too strict expression like a stocky velvet .
– the wing clothing textile looks CGI . ”
Employee 9 : “ see how firm the GoPro footage is . You gravely think his neck opening is that stable when flapping his arm ? To get that high and not move your head around an inch to take in the view ? FAKE ”
Employee 10 : I have to enquire where the power is descend from ( where are the battery , etc ) . The most efficient for human transferral is likely a fixed wing aircraft . you may get very salutary answer from a undecomposed laminar wingform and a low superpower railway locomotive / motor . His wings will decidedly not leave the aeromechanics to cart a 180 pound in the air . The tumid bird had a 23 infantry wingspread , and was only 171 dog pound . It also had very great pectoral muscles to manage the mightiness require .
Employee 11 : “ The wing - loading is crazy . , , Also , a major purpose of a after part on a bird or aeroplane is to forestall - move the forward pitching moment of the annex . If you could get your weight down to about 50 pound sterling for those wings , you would still find yourself rolling frontward . square - wing flee wings need a specific twist , or bombastic dihedral , to uphold static flight ( both of which down lift ) . The constellation in the video is prone to gerbilling . ,,I think the vitality cycle on the design is borrowed from the imp in Wizard of Oz . ”
Emphasis added . Martin even bring out a smoking gun :
Okay Sam , They would n’t let this go without getting to the bottom of it . We ’ve get cogent evidence it ’s falsify .
The trial impression come in from one of their other video recording and the guys here are genuinely impressed that it ’s taken so long even for us to mold the truth .
These guy wire are befool everyone .
Watch this video recording :
At 1:45 , you could see a picayune black square on the fabric
Now , without cutting , the photographic camera pans down and then back up again . When the camera pan up , the extension is cg . you’re able to say because the example they used did n’t have consummate textures
It ’s a passably unspoilt faux , but it is perfectly fake .
Again , emphasis added .
We also talked with a CGI psyche atVisual Playground , who spotted what he says is another game show :
Ok … not on the vid … but on their site … a bit of a giveaway . this vid :
contains covert guess of the image 3D model of the backstage movements . The program is Maya , a 3D program primarily used by CG creative person . I would opine if this was the engine room vid it lay claim to be they would be using a three-D modeling program more suitable to cathartic based modeling . Also the toolbar they have loaded atop the program is the ‘ Cloth Simulation ’ domain of the program , which is used create such effects as fabric wing act through atmosphere … hmmm . This is nt 100 % proof but it is unknown for them to have such a detailed ANIMATED simulation in a CG program rather than a engineering one .
So if it ’s a fake , it ’s a pretty masterful one . Even the Star Wars guys are impressed .
Update : Martin has more refutation out of ILM :
Even more determinate grounds from on of our veteran typographer :
“ At 0:18 – the cast shadows of the three fellas on the wings are another giveaway . The tail on screen right , for example , was create using an articulate of the man himself , then hand - animated and warped to appear like a cast shadow on the offstage . Watch how the cast phantasma does a moon - walkway / shambling , incongruous with the man himself .
All that said , it ’s still very well done . Good clobber . And I truly think this is a respectable physical exertion for folks who do this clobber for a life . ”
Update 2 : Another heavyweight CGI ammonia alum weigh in :
I ’ve been in CG for 15 years , and worked at some of the largest studios like ILM and Weta Digital . This is 100 % without a doubt a digital composite , which is great ! When I saw this video I was happy to see that somebody really took the time to integrate serious CG into a viral video recording . So many hackneyed attempts are passed around , and this one really stand out . A luck of people have been put one across , so I thought I ’d show how trained Hollywood optic effects artists can espy CG when ley people ca n’t . The ILM guys that point out the rotten footage were right – that ’s what covers 90 % of the problem . You actually WANT bad footage to put CG into , because the shaking traverse many mistakes . So I stabilized the shot , as you may see here , and the problems jump out . First thing that you might be surprised by , is that the PEOPLE are digitally composited into the shot too ! Everyone has been focusing on the wings but the people function in form were shot separately and then tote up to the nip later to save on work . Rather than “ Roto ” the people ( trace their outline skeletal frame by anatomy to put CG objects behind them ) , the makers of this video thought it would be well-heeled ( and it is ) to just add them on TOP of the CG wings later . In the stabilised stab , look how there is motion blur on the three worker and the wings when there is none on the background . This is due to the fact that a “ 2D ” motion fuzz plugin was used . The computer depend the change in pel from frame to frame and blurs the pixels the more the pixels change . The problem is , these role player already had motion blur on them when they were first shot . When you composite them into the footage , motion blur gets added AGAIN . This is why they go very blurry when the rest of the shaft does n’t . The makers of this video tried to cover the fact they did this by having the two type on the right run off screen , and then amount back into frame . The genuine footage that was shot on this day was a clean field , and the type run in from screen right hand . Look closely at the shadows on the ground of the middle character . There is only only leg on the ground , and it slide with his movement . There ’s even some frame where the dark is on the untimely side of the foot . The cover left character transitions ( simple fade ) between the digitally composited version of himself and the interlingual rendition of him on the background between frames 90 - 92 of my video . The cg artist then have to roto the foreground part minimally for the rest of the snap . A very valorous attempt , homely as day to a CG creative person .
This is really convincing CG employment , but the public necessitate to understand that CG artists can detect things the same way a master chef can detect the fixings of a dish . I take my hat off to these artists for their commitment to this project , creating and releasing so many videos with convincing graphics that have fooled a LOT of people . It ’s the perfect PR for a visual effects studio . Wish I ’d mean of it !
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