# ufos over haiti? What are we seeing here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170 "2007-08-10T20:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/41 "2007-08-13T23:28:00Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] It’s true that the trees all look very much alike, but I’ve seen new developments in Southern California where all the newly planted palm trees look like clones. [/QUOTE] They probably were clones, literally. The issue here is not that the trees look like clones, ie same age, height, growth pattern etc. The issue is that they all look like the same individual: the exact same leaves in the exact same positions. Take a look at the profiles of the top of the crown. They are exact copies. I know that you have never seen that in California or anywhere else on Earth, it just can’t happen. The slightest variation in the depth or position the seedlings were planted or any variation at all in the soil will ensure that the leaves will develop at different rates and different orientations. At leat two of these trees have put out exactly the same leaves at exactly the same minute for the past 15 years. It’s a fairly silly error really, since it would take far less time to draw a couple of new trees than to draw the UFOs themselves. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/42 "2007-08-14T00:26:38Z")
The program they used for the trees is called [Vue Esprit](http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_6_esprit/) (play the trailer, the same palm trees are displayed in it a few times). It uses a method called “incidencing” where you can specify a single model, and get it to repeat it across a surface, randomly, creating forests or grasslands or cities (depending on what the models chosen are) without it being unduly hit with processor slowdown. What this particular person seems to have done is create the entire animation in Vue (as it is excellent for realistic lighting effects and natural textures) but neglected to randomise the palm tree models. My suspicion is they _are_ a part of a viral marketing campaign for something, though not Halo 3 like many are guessing. Something else. Possibly a new TV show or movie, or a different video game. Then again, maybe it’s just some opportunist having a laugh. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/43 "2007-08-14T02:30:46Z")
Has anyone mentioned the Ratchet and Clank commercials yet? [They](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ratchet+and+clank+commercial&search=Search) look pretty realistic but are obviously cgi because they depict some impossible things happening. Some of the ones that just show an explosion might be special effects, but the one where they turn a girl into a cow, and the one with the tractor beam are clearly cgi. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/44 "2007-08-14T18:46:06Z")
Boo idiotic YouTube commenters! Hooray UFOs! Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/45 "2007-08-20T20:38:34Z")
Well I for one welcome our new digitally created overlords. ---
**Author:** ![conway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@conway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conway)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/46 "2007-08-22T14:51:00Z")
A Los Angeles Times reporter tracked down the guy who created these: > **[It came from outer space](https://www.latimes.com/newsletters/topofthetimes/la-et-ufo22aug22-story.html)** > > Images of UFOs, purportedly videotaped in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, have Internet viewers watching and debating. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/47 "2007-08-22T20:50:24Z")
Thanks conway, I read that in the L.A. Times also today. Not an advertisement for a new video game after all. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/48 "2007-08-22T21:31:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Barzolff is a professional animator who attended one of the most prestigious art schools in France and has a decade of experience with computer graphics and commercial animation. > > It took Barzolff a total of 17 hours to make both the Haiti and Dominican Republic videos. He did it all by himself using a MacBook Pro… fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/49 "2007-08-23T00:14:10Z")
I’ve never understood the “viral advertising” explanation often trotted out for this kind of thing. How would videos like this work as viral advertising for anything at all anyway? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/50 "2007-08-23T00:43:46Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] How would videos like this work as viral advertising for anything at all anyway? [/QUOTE] I would have thought that they would form the beginning of an increasing onslaught of UFO videos, looking more and more like an invasion, where it finally reaches a design of craft that matches those established in the game. Then, if the game has a backstory about how the aliens first arrived, and it matches what the YouTube videos show, there’s an air of “authenticity” to the game. That’s how I was imagining it, anyway. Shame it wasn’t the case. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2007, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/51 "2007-08-23T02:13:55Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve never understood the “viral advertising” explanation often trotted out for this kind of thing. How would videos like this work as viral advertising for anything at all anyway? Exactly the way it is happening: Person 1: Hey, look at this UFO video I found! Person 2: Yeah, I heard that that’s a viral advertising scheme for Halo 3. Person 1: Oh, they’re coming out with a Halo 3? I guess I’ll have to buy that. The absolute beauty of it is, it doesn’t even matter if the person who made the video had any connection to Halo 3 at all. All the folks at Bungee Software have to do is find a UFO video already out there and make a few YouTube comments to get the rumor started. And they might not even have to do that. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/52 "2007-08-23T14:04:04Z")
Here’s snopes take on it: [Does Footage Show UFOs Flying Over Haiti and the Dominican Republic? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/photos/odd/haitiufos.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170/53 "2007-08-23T23:09:39Z")
From **conway** ’s link: > [@](#): > > Barzolff stressed the videos were not intended as a viral marketing ploy. **His movie is still in the idea phase** , and he created the hoax strictly as a “sociological experiment” – in other words, just to see what would happen. (bolding mine) -Right, like that’s not going to help him get his movie made. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-over-haiti-what-are-we-seeing-here/415170.md?page=2)