Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 4-19-19

Editorial/Column
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Why CGI Has Become So Popular In Movie Making
ears ago, making so-
phisticated graphics and animation come to life in a movie was a painstaking, drawn out process which could take months. The joy of bringing a children’s anima- tion to the screen required several graphic artists and nu- merous animation experts to design thousands of hand- made imageries in sequence.
Cartoons and animated movies such as He-Man and the Masters of the Uni- verse, Ren and Stimpy, did not seem realistic as thou- sands of frames were drawn by hand, placed on celluloid sheets and made to run on a dense background. Comput- ers, at that time did not have the processing power needed to build large archives of im- ages to save on man hours.
Computers in the 70s and 80s were also pretty expen- sive. These days’ movies with eye catching graphics no longer use the old fashion
handmade techniques which Walt Disney helped to in- vent. The man was a genius. Now with CGI, (computer gen- erated imagery) the process is faster and way more impres- sive. The foundation of CGI is built on sophisticated algo- rithms, which produces visual patterns including 3D images and complex background visu- als that appear to be almost real to the naked eye.
There are many different graphics software that take ad- vantage of CGI technology. Some software such as Maya, a very expensive program in the day is used to build the background of mountains and simulate millions of similar people moving at the same time.
CGI has become so popu- lar and less pricey, it is used in commercials, engineering, ad- vertisements and architecture. Many of us will not notice the difference in the use of the technology unless we are an-
ticipating it. There are famous scenes from movies such as, Lord of the Rings and the Terminator that relied heav- ily on CGI. CGI produces 3D imagery by rasterizing or ray tracing images. Ray tracing uses a pattern of light on a 2D image making it into a 3D image. As you may suspect, there is a lot of math and a high degree of programming involved in the whole process.
However, the outcome is usually very realistic and eye pleasing. CGI was used heavily in the Avengers, Avatar and George Lucas took ad- vantage of the technology in Star Wars. Remember the scene in Wonder Woman where she takes off into the battle field, amidst guns firing and explosions which created a feverish action catalyst.
If you can recall the scene, then you have an idea how amazing the technology has progressed from when it was first used in Star Wars (1980) and Superman (1978).
Eric Hall, holds a Master’s Degree from the University of South Florida in Instructional Technology and Cybersecurity Digital Forensics. He has been a computer technician for over twenty years. He is formerly the manager and owner of Comptech PC, Inc., in Fort Pierce Florida. Follow him on Facebook.
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Keeping Trump Off The 2020 Ballot?
e have no doubt that the framers of our Constitu-
tion never envisioned Americans electing a presi- dent like Donald Trump . . . someone who divides the nation much like the era when Southern states seceded from the union.
Moreover, the Washington Post newspaper stated that within the first eight months of Trump’s Administration, he had “made 1,137 false or misleading claims, an avera- geof 5 per day.”
Today, the number stands at more than 5,000.
In spite of widely televised documented examples of the president’s lies and false claims, the Gallup Polls showed Trump’s approval rating was at 34 percent last month. The fact that more than one third of Americans still believe his lies is appalling, to say the least.
Indeed, if our best friend or significant other told lies at the rate our president does, we are certain the relation- ship would be broken. Yet, more than one out of three Americans still find Trump credible.
Why? Does it mean our value of telling the truth no longer exists?
However, the lie about his income taxes which he re- fuses to release has set Trump’s verbal escapades off the scale of some state legislators. Indeed, because Trump re- fused to honor his promise to release his income tax re- turns has caused some states to consider keeping Trump off the 2020 ballot.
His legal team and supporters are projecting that we will “never see” a copy of Trump’s taxes, and are prepared to fight to keep his tax returns secret all the way to the Supreme Court. Last month, the Washington State Senate passed legislation, and at least eighteen other states were considering “legislation that would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to post their tax returns” in order to appear on the primary and general election bal- lots. Let’s see if state’s rights prevail on this one.
According to the National Conference of State Legisla- tures, they are aiming “at increasing transparency and re- turning to the norm of candidates releasing their financial records.” Such action, of course, will be legally challenged, but at least states are ready to act on one of Trump’s lies.
Could his refusal to release his tax returns be “the smoking gun” of paying no taxes on millions of profit and Russian business deals? The posting of tax returns by a whistleblower would be the icing on a bitter cake for the Trump Administration.
As the ‘Teflon Don” might soon realize, no bad deed lasts forever, even if you’re the president of the strongest nation on earth.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2019 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-A