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Meet Ed, a stunningly convincing computer animation

Watch out for that screen when you try to reach out and touch him. 

 

Mike Fenn

Tech

Posted on Oct 3, 2014   Updated on May 30, 2021, 11:45 am CDT

Ed can blink, smile, look around, and is a bit unshaven. “That’s nothing,” you might say. “Any person can do those things!” And you’re right: any person can do those things.

But Ed isn’t a person.

Rather, “Ed” is little more than a computer graphic, created with programs Lightwave, Sculptris, and Krita. In a YouTube video by Chris Jones, the frighteningly realistic Ed comes to life before our very eyes, appearing surprised once it is revealed that he isn’t a real human being.

Technology has come very, very far when it comes to the recreation of humanistic features.

Compare Ed to Max Headroom, the semi-computer-generated character from the 1980s TV program of the same name.

H/T Digg | Screengrab via Chris Jones/YouTube

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*First Published: Oct 3, 2014, 9:15 am CDT