# Digital trickery **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2002, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-trickery/106445 "2002-04-30T10:22:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zweistein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/54ee81/32.png) [@Zweistein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zweistein)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-trickery/106445/1 "2002-04-30T10:22:33Z")
I once saw a still picture (a delphin jumping out of the water) but the camera was animated - turning around the delphin showing a 3d sight of the delphin - just like a hologram . I guess it’s digitally manipulated but still how do they do it ? ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-trickery/106445/2 "2002-04-30T10:29:42Z")
No digital manipulation (at least, it can be done without digital manipulation). All they do is set up a whole bunch of cameras (over a hundred, in some cases) on a rail, all pointed to the same relative spot. Then, when the dolphin jumps up out of the water right smack dab in the middle of all those cameras, someone presses a button and they all take a picture at the same time. Later on, in the studio, they put all those still images in sequence, roll the film, and PRESTO!.. it looks like they managed to freeze time. They didn’t, of course… they just took a snapshot of one moment in time from a whole bunch of different angles. This method of filming was made most famous in the movie _The Matrix_ (in fact, people often call that effect “The Matrix Effect”), although it’s been in use in some small regard before that movie had been released. ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-trickery/106445/3 "2002-04-30T12:23:03Z")
If I can ask a related point, in shots like that how do they get rid of the cameras ? I mean if you spin more than 180 degrees round your subject then surely you should see the cameras on the other side taking the pictures. I’m assuming that they’re digitally removed but I was wondering if there is some easier ‘trick’ that’s used. Maybe it’s all done with mirrors. And to add a point to the answer **SPOOFE** gave, if I have a still picture or even a video of a dolphin jumping out the water I can’t use digital trickery to ‘rotate’ round _that dolphin_. I could model a dolphin, create a computer graphic and rotate round that. But it’s a modelled dolphin not the original, I don’t know what the back of the original looks like from my picture/video. I add this 'cos I’ve seen several films where they use ‘digital trickery’ to look behind objects or rotate things when they clearly had no way to get that information. It’s annoying and unrealistic. ( Well it annoys me anyway ) SD ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-trickery/106445/4 "2002-04-30T12:39:01Z")
I was going to ask this same question. Makes me wonder too. I suppose those tricks aren’t that easy, because I can’t recall seeing them in older films while they’re almost common in new ones, like “Matrix”, and nowadays even in commercials (Wilkinson, for example). ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-trickery/106445/5 "2002-04-30T12:49:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SpaceDog \* > If I can ask a related point, in shots like that how do they get rid of the cameras ? > > I mean if you spin more than 180 degrees round your subject then surely you should see the cameras on the other side taking the pictures. I’m assuming that they’re digitally removed but I was wondering if there is some easier ‘trick’ that’s used. Maybe it’s all done with mirrors. _That_ part of the effect is indeed done with digital editing, they just replace the other cameras with a background image. However, it’s not always necessary. If all the cameras were above the object and looking down, for example, you could aim them so no camera sees any other one. The first feature film to use this effect was the spectacularly awful _Wing Commander_. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-trickery/106445/6 "2002-04-30T13:26:24Z")
\>\> I suppose those tricks aren’t that easy It is not _that_ difficult. All you need is a bunch of cameras ($) and set them off simultaneously. (Although I do believe they do digital interpolation). Some guy had the idea and then we all thought “hey, that’s pretty neat and quite simple – why didn’t _I_ think of that?” ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-trickery/106445/7 "2002-04-30T19:38:42Z")
Of course, if your movie is animated, then you can just draw it that way. See the “Princess Fiona kicks ass” scene from _Shrek_ for an example. ---
**Author:** ![absimia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bbe5ce/32.png) [@absimia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/absimia)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-trickery/106445/8 "2002-04-30T23:28:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*Some guy had the idea and then we all thought “hey, that’s pretty neat and quite simple – why didn’t _I_ think of that?” \*\* I’d remembered reading that the effect was invented in the early 90s. A little bit of google and presto! The fella who had that idea was Dayton Taylor. The link leads to an article he wrote in 1996 about inventing it. [http://www.virtualcamera.com/ascmag.html](http://www.virtualcamera.com/ascmag.html) ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-trickery/106445/9 "2002-05-01T00:38:51Z")
I had the same feeling when I learnt about the steadycam. These things are so simple even _I_ could have thought of them. But I didn’t and someone else got rich in my place.