Scott Foresman Reading Street

Reader
VActors:
Virtual Actors
on the Screen
by Annette Pry
Genre
Build Background
Access Content
Extend Language
Nonfiction
• Special Effects
• Computer
Technology
• Entertainment
• Graphic Aids
• Definitions
• Captions
• Verb Form: -ing
Scott Foresman Reading Street 5.3.5
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ISBN 0-328-14231-X
Talk About It
1. 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?
VActors:
Virtual Actors
on the Screen
Write About It
3. Do you think it is a good idea to use VActors in movies?
Write to explain your opinion on a separate sheet
of paper.
by Annette Pry
Extend Language
Climb 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
Photographs
Every 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.
Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey • New York, New York
Sales
Massachusetts
• Duluth,
Georgia • Glenview, Illinois
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Coppell, Texas • Sacramento, California • Mesa, Arizona
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
It takes many drawings such as these to make cartoon
characters appear to move.
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.
still: not moving
2
3
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.
virtual: made to look real, or almost real
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
5
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
Images of
people created
on a computer.
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?
7
Talk About It
1. 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 It
3. 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 Language
Climb 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
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!
Photographs
Every 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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