> The National Aeronautics and Space Administration regularly employs similar techniques to clarify images transmitted from outer space. The computer can sharpe

> The National Aeronautics and Space Administration regularly employs similar techniques to clarify images transmitted from outer space. The computer can sharpen fuzzy pictures or add color to satellite pictures of land masses so that it is easier to decipher the details. lololol > It is no accident that unfamiliar environments such as outer space or the inside of a computer, with its high-tech components, have been favored for the computer-generated segments of movies. > In search of aids to more realistic simulation, researchers comb the various branches of mathematics, and even art. For instance, Geoffrey G. Gardner of Grumman Aerospace in Bethpage, N.Y., has been analyzing Impressionist painting techniques in order to understand how it was possible to use such large brush strokes and still represent the essence of a scene without reproducing unnecessary detail. Gardner would like to apply such a technique to the computer. > Though no researcher has yet synthesized an image of a human being that anyone would mistake for a photograph of a person - real or fictional - scientists at the University of Pennsylvania Computer Graphics Research Facility have created a humanlike figure that moves on a video screen through zero gravity like an astronaut. This figure will be used for tests within a simulated space shuttle, such as checking on the size of passageways and the accessibility of instrument panels. hehe > Recently, Whitney says, his production company used the data from a NASA photograph to simulate the surface of Jupiter for the soon-to-be- released movie ''2010,'' a sequel to the film ''2001.'' > "If we really want to, we can convince folks that it's real" .. What interests Smith is "going to be to find out how far you can go away from reality and still have people follow you." quite far indeed!