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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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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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