The 'unreal' images change the 'real' world

There have been a few decades since computer graphics made great impacts on our life. Computer generated imagery (CGI) is now being used widely in different areas such as the movie and the design industry. As we all know, these images are unrealistic – they are just polygons, vectors and programs. But who cares about the factuality of the graphics? CGI can really help us in many aspects so we ought to make good use of this tool. In this essay, I will investigate how the CGI technology aids us and reveal its limitations and anticipation.

Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the application of the field of computer graphics, or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media [1].

Indeed, there are a myriad of examples of CGI technology used in our daily life. Computer aided design (CAD) is one of the applications of CGI [2]. In the field of design, designers wish to visualize the thoughts in their mind so they traditionally need paper and pen to draw what they want. Nowadays, CAD software packages enable them to make a detailed 3D objects which is all-angle visible. It makes the process of engineering and manufacturing of the products become easier and more convenient because 3D models are easier to be understood by manufacturer than hand-drawn 3D-pretending picture.

 Figure 1 3D designs by using CAD software [3]

Moreover, the CGI technology typically benefits the movie industry. As an example, the movie, ‘Toy Story’ is an animation generated purely by the CGI technology. The characters and all the background in the animation are all 3D models which can be treated as some virtual objects. All the motions and movements of the objects are manipulated based on computer programs.

Figure 2 A scene from the movie Toy Story [4]

The above ‘Toy Story’ example is an animation that people can intuitively figure out the graphics involved are not real. But what if some ‘realistic elements’ are added in the movie so that people would intuitively think that ‘the movie is so real’? Let’s see the movie Avatar as a further example.

Avatar is a 2009 American epic science fiction film which mainly consists of the CGI technology to visualize and simulate the imaginary amazing world in the movie [5]. Owing to the state-of-the-art CGI technology, not only images are generated, but also a tremendous income is also generated. Until May 4 2010, worldwide revenue of $2,777,490,390 USD has already been earned from the movie [6].

The graphical models in the CGI technology in Avatar are very similar to the things we encountered in the real world, or even more gorgeous than what we observe in the real world. Nevertheless, not like Toy Story, we think that the movie Avatar is very ‘realistic’ because the images used in the movie fit comfortably to our intuition, without a diametrical conflict to what we observe and experience in our daily life. In other words, we will ‘believe’ the unreal graphics in Avatar but not in Toy Story.

So, something wield springs up in my mind. In what mentioned above, it seems that the CGI technology is so powerful that we can purely generate a ‘realistic’ movie without any human interventions. However, something contradictory to our thought is that the movie Avatar still needs actors and actresses to generate 3D models! Without anyone acting in the movie, the CGI technology is incapable of creating creatures that moves so smooth like humans. What the directors of the movie Avatar have used to capture the motion of humans in an attempt to create human-like creatures is that they install motion sensors in every single joint of the actors and actresses [7], and meanwhile transfer the sensors’ signal to the virtual camera in order to perform motions of the computer 3D models [7]. In fact, generating a series of human actions does require a lot of human resources. Without capturing the motions of human in the real world, it seems that it is extremely difficult to generate some complicated movements of a 3D model purely by manipulating the movements of the 3D components and adjusting the positions of the joints of the 3D model. Knowing that these kinds of movies still involves human manipulation is very important because people will feel bad if we intuitively ‘believe’ that the whole displayed world in the movie Avatar is real, but the movie actually contains no ‘real’ things. We are pleased to know that there is still a little proportion of ‘real things’ (the motions and gestures of the  haracters) in the movie, corresponding to what we ‘believe’.

Figure 3 The tricks behind Avatar [8]

This fact inspires us to think of a very thought-provoking question: Can the CGI technology generate a perfectly unblemished video (or animation) containing smooth and human-like motions? In my own perspective, this dream is nearly impossible in the near future. In the field of computing, it seems like we are continuously using computer graphics to imitate the real world. In fact, I think the machine cannot perfectly simulate the real world because the world is perfect due to its imperfectness. What I mean is that there exist some blemishes in the real world as some random noises and flaws will emerge in the real world. The images generated purely by the CGI technology are highly imitative and with regular pattern, but thanks to these seem-like merits, the images cannot present the imperfect random events naturally. So, we can observe that CGI is more commonly used in the movies having imaginary characters which are less likely to be contradictory to our intuition, in order to make the character more ‘realistic’. Iron man, Spiderman and Transformer are some of the typical examples substantiating the idea that the CGI technology aids mainly the imaginary characters in the movies.

Based on the computer technology now, I think it is too soon to say that computers can one day perfectly simulate a virtual world that the unreal graphics can make us ‘believe’ the ‘unreal’ is ‘real’. Believing what we are seeing still seems agreeable in the sense that if we see something realistic, there must be at least some human manipulations involved (e.g. the motion generating aspect in the movie Avatar).

Are people going to endeavor to make the ‘realistic’ video described above? May or may not be. But at least, it’s clear that amazing images can be made without human intervention if human-like motions are not required. Believe it or not, both of the following images are based on CGI that they are purely vectors and polygons drawn by using graphical software. In the first glance, or even deeper examination, we will conclude that the two girls are real if we are not allowed to use any computer program to examine the factuality of the images.

Figure 4 The realistic women created by CGI [9]

But what if the CGI technology eventually advanced to a level that it is capable of simulating human and even the whole real world? If the CGI technology can really simulate all movements and motions that humans can do, a very interesting phenomenon may appear – the virtual idol. What I mean is a tailor-made idol who can act, sing and even do anything that human can do, but can only be seen on videos. He or she may be very handsome or very pretty, having multitudes of talents in different areas. He or she (or should I say ‘it’?) can be the main character of a movie and interact with other movie stars. The essence of this issue is in the question – would people still like to become fans of the virtual idol even they know it is not real at all?

Would people choose to ‘believe’ in a very realistic virtual object even when they are told that the object is completely made by CGI? This is really an intriguing question aiming to examine the reaction of people dealing with something which is completely unreal. But sadly, the answer will only be released at the day when CGI can impeccably simulate the real world.

Reference

1. Wikipedia Computer-generated imagery. [online], available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-generated_imagery
2. Wikipedia Computer-aided design. [online], available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_design 
3. John S 2010, designer. The 3rd and 4th assignments’ illustration of the course ‘Introduction to 3D Modelling’. Course number CD 85-215-56-01 (01). HKU Space.
4. Photos: Top ten CGI films to keep the kids quiet over easter. [online], available at: http://www.computerweekly.com/galleries/235560-2/Toy-Story-Top-ten-CGI-films.htm 
5. Wikipedia Avatar (2009 film). [online], available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film) 
6. Total Lifetime Grosses of Avatar. Boxofficemojo. [online], available at: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=avatar.htm 
7. Taking movies beyond Avatar -- for under $150. University of Abertay Dundee 2010. [online], available at: http://www.photoxels.com/tag/avatar-movie/ 
8. Avatar Showtimes Clips and Trailers. [online], available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq_nRfoBSm0&feature=fvw 
9. Brain 2008. Spring Fling. [online], available at: http://librarybrainblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/spring-fling/