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Scott Foresman Reading Street 5.3.5
Genre Build Background Access Content Extend Language
Nonfi ction • Special Effects
• Computer Technology
• Entertainment
• Graphic Aids
• Defi nitions
• Captions
• Verb Form: -ing
Reader
ISBN 0-328-14231-X
ì
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Talk About It1. Which images look more real to you—the places
shown
on page 6 or the faces shown on page 7?2. What else besides
characters can an artist create for the
movies or video games with the help of a computer?
Write About It3. Do you think it is a good idea to use VActors
in movies?
Write to explain your opinion on a separate sheet of paper.
Extend LanguageClimb and climbing are related. You can add the
ending -ing to a verb to make a new verb form. What are the -ing
verb forms of the following verbs in this book?
fly walk talk fight
PhotographsEvery effort has been made to secure permission and
provide appropriate credit for photographic material. The publisher
deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to
its attention in subsequent editions.
Cover ©Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis; 1 (L) ©Acclaim House, (R)
©Christopher J. Morris/Corbis; 2 ©Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis; 3 ©Steve
Gorton/DK Images; 4 ©AFP/Getty Images; 5 ©David
Young-Wolff/PhotoEdit; 6 (T) ©Cindy Kassab/Corbis, (CR) ©Third Eye
Images/Corbis, (BL) ©Jean-Pierre Lescourret/Corbis; 7 (T) ©Acclaim
House, (BL, BR) ©Christopher J. Morris/Corbis; 8 (TL, TR, BL, BC,
BR) ©Getty Images.
ISBN: 0-328-14231-X
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of
America.
This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission
should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any
form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to:
Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,
Glenview, Illinois 60025.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
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Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey •
New York, New YorkSales Offices: Needham, Massachusetts • Duluth,
Georgia • Glenview, Illinois
Coppell, Texas • Sacramento, California • Mesa, Arizona
VActors:Virtual Actorson the Screen by Annette Pry
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Can a live dinosaur walk through a city street? Can a huge
cartoon mouse talk with a human? Can people fight with live
dragons? Can such things happen in real life?
No, they cannot happen. But they can look like they happen
through a process called computer animation. We are able to see
impossible things happen in our video games, on television, and in
the movies. Human actors and fake actors can now appear in the same
movies together.
animation: making something look like it is moving
fake: not real
2
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Long before we had movies with real people, artists could make
pictures that appeared to move. Artists drew animals or people in
various stages of movement. These drawings could be shown one after
the other. If the drawings were shown very fast, the animal or the
person appeared to move. This process is called animation—making
still images appear to move. Famous cartoon characters appear on
television and in the movies. Cartoon people and animals appear to
walk, talk, dance, and sing.
It takes many drawings such as these to make cartoon characters
appear to move.
still: not moving
3
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By the 1930s, people were able to make long movies using
animated characters. Thousands of drawings were put together and
filmed to show famous stories and fairy tales. Princesses, horses,
rabbits, and talking birds all appeared in these cartoon
movies.
Today, artists still design cartoon characters for movies. But
artists no longer have to draw each movement by hand. They use
computers to produce many drawings in seconds. With the help of
computers, artists make the characters seem to move. Computers have
changed the way cartoons and movies are made.
4
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Computers can store millions of bits of information to create
characters and places that do not really exist. Artists decide what
information they will use to create characters. They decide how the
characters will look. They design eyes, hair, smiling or frowning
faces, and bodies for their characters. Artists decide what kinds
of movements the characters will make.
This kind of character is called a virtual actor, or a VActor. A
virtual actor is the moving image of an actor or character that a
computer creates by using millions of pieces of information. The
VActor appears on a computer monitor, a television, or in a movie.
It looks like it is alive. It can move, talk, smile, or fly.
Virtual actors can do almost anything that people want them to do.
But, remember, VActors are really just pictures that appear to
move.
5
virtual: made to look real, or almost real
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Artists also must decide what backgrounds will be used for their
characters. Will the VActors walk through cities? Will they swim in
rivers or lakes? Will they jump over rooftops or run up walls?
Computers need millions of pieces of information about landscapes
to create a world for real and virtual actors.
Artists can use computers to create the images of a background
and landscape for a movie.
6
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People have already seen many VActors in movies and video games.
We have seen virtual dinosaurs that look like they are really
alive. We have seen virtual characters climbing skyscrapers and
flying between buildings. Fake characters cannot get hurt! We now
have video games where anyone can play any sport with a VActor who
looks like a real player. But will we ever be able to actually
replace real people in movies with VActors? Will computers ever be
able to create fake people who look and act exactly like real
people?
Images of people created on a computer.
7
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So far, it is almost impossible for a computer to make a human
face that can appear to show real feelings. To do so, a VActor’s
face must be able to show happiness, sadness, worry, and joy. It
must have lines and wrinkles. It must change and move hundreds of
times each minute.
Real movie watchers seem to know when a human face that is shown
in a movie is real or not real. People like to watch real faces.
People know the difference between a human face and a virtual face.
Computers can’t fool people! Yes, we now have VActors who look like
dinosaurs, trolls, robots, and animals. But no one has been able to
make a VActor who looks and acts exactly like a real person. Who
knows? Maybe some day you might do it!
8
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7:55:53 PM
Talk About It1. Which images look more real to you—the places
shown
on page 6 or the faces shown on page 7?2. What else besides
characters can an artist create for the
movies or video games with the help of a computer?
Write About It3. Do you think it is a good idea to use VActors
in movies?
Write to explain your opinion on a separate sheet of paper.
Extend LanguageClimb and climbing are related. You can add the
ending -ing to a verb to make a new verb form. What are the -ing
verb forms of the following verbs in this book?
fly walk talk fight
PhotographsEvery effort has been made to secure permission and
provide appropriate credit for photographic material. The publisher
deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to
its attention in subsequent editions.
Cover ©Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis; 1 (L) ©Acclaim House, (R)
©Christopher J. Morris/Corbis; 2 ©Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis; 3 ©Steve
Gorton/DK Images; 4 ©AFP/Getty Images; 5 ©David
Young-Wolff/PhotoEdit; 6 (T) ©Cindy Kassab/Corbis, (CR) ©Third Eye
Images/Corbis, (BL) ©Jean-Pierre Lescourret/Corbis; 7 (T) ©Acclaim
House, (BL, BR) ©Christopher J. Morris/Corbis; 8 (TL, TR, BL, BC,
BR) ©Getty Images.
ISBN: 0-328-14231-X
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of
America.
This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission
should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any
form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to:
Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,
Glenview, Illinois 60025.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
14231_CVR.indd Cover214231_CVR.indd Cover2 3/16/05 7:52:43
PM3/16/05 7:52:43 PM
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