# Is Animusic Real, or Cyber-Illusion?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animusic-real-or-cyber-illusion/182184>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 16, 2003, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animusic-real-or-cyber-illusion/182184 "2003-06-16T10:57:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animusic-real-or-cyber-illusion/182184/1 "2003-06-16T10:57:39Z")

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I caught a clip of a musical “wonder” on PBS. It was a Dr. Seuss-looking type of devices where balls were fired with such precision as to strike various musical bars, bells, and tubes to produce some very complicated music. In some cases, the bars (xylophone bars) were on a monorail system. It is obviously computer controlled to get the timing right, but…is it even real?

The TV spot I caught and the photos provided on the webiste sure look very real. It doesn’t have a “Pixar”-type look to it, for example, like “Toy Story” and the like. In any case, a friend of mine suggested the whole thing is totally cyber-generated. Check out: [www.animusic.com](http://www.animusic.com) and please tell me what you know about this…

- Jinx

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**Author:** ![Short\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Short\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short_Guy)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animusic-real-or-cyber-illusion/182184/2 "2003-06-16T12:23:36Z")

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[This](http://www.animusic.com/company-info.html) should answer your question.

> [@](#):
>
> Both the graphics and the music are entirely digitally synthesized.

It’s all computer animated. (of course, the fact that Animusic stands for “animated music” should tell you something.)🙂

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animusic-real-or-cyber-illusion/182184/3 "2003-06-17T21:22:50Z")

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Yes, but it could also mean “animatronic”.

As for realism of computer graphics, _Toy Story_ was just the first step. Nowadays, they can make pretty much anything non-living look perfect (and even some living things: Remember the _Jurassic Park_ dinos?). The freeway scene in _Matrix Reloaded_? I’m not sure, but I’ll bet you the cars were 100% digital.

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animusic-real-or-cyber-illusion/182184/4 "2003-06-17T23:00:24Z")

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Seems rather obviously computer-generated to me. Saying it doesn’t have a “Pixar” look doesn’t really qualify, since Pixar deliberately goes for an unrealistic, “hyper-animated” look.