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Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

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Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#151

Post by marshray »

joeld42 wrote: post #136

I've worked in the visual effects industry and I don't think this is CGI, at least not in the sense that most commenters mean, a digital rendering of the dude and the wings. If it is, there's a lot of small details that they got right. It could be, and the poor quality of the video makes it hard to tell for sure, but I think that's misdirection. My guess is that the wings are not mechanical at all beyond being flexib…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH3fQbGlQlM#t=52s

Look at the left tip on the mechanism as it moves slowly as the woman holds it.

I know it's supposed to be light, but it appears to jitter as if it's massless.

The lighting on the mecanism doesn't seem so right either. This looks a little like the early Star Wars' to me.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#152

Post by pitchups »

angersock wrote: post #128
rloads wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finally someone pulled out meaningful fact about flying. How funny people keep saying about video without taking into account any engineering or physical requirements to make this real.

Annoying as hell, isn't it? >:( More usefully, I don't mind if this turns out to be a fake--but this off-the-cuff "no it is not possible ever" is so narrowminded when not combined with credible facts and analysis.

I agree. It is good to be skeptical - as they say extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Experts are trained to be skeptical. I am not saying that video may not be a fake but I am also equally skeptical about all the expert opinion on the impossibility of it all. And that is because experts have a long tradition of often being dead wrong about what is possible. Lord Kelvin - who was England's top scientist and President of the Royal Society flatly stated in 1895 that "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible" - just a decade before he was proven wrong. There are many more similar examples in the history of progress. It is a good thing inventors also have a long tradition - of ignoring experts and just trying to achieve what has been claimed as impossible.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#153

Post by nsns »

moultano wrote: post #73
saturn wrote: post #69

This video is fake, that has been established beyond doubt. But CGI, even "prosumer" CGI like this, is really getting better. Even at this level, people are relying on "hints" that a CGI transition has taken place - camera looks away, is obscured, or the picture is blurry. Give it a couple of years and those distracting-from-transition tricks probably won't be necessary any more. Then what?

"If the US could create Avatar, it could fake 9/11" http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/if-us-could-create-avata... Probably, we won't believe anything.

Could be great material for Mike Daisy's next show.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#154

Post by marshray »

So I did a little poking around:

I can't find any reliable mention of Jarno Smeets on the web before May 2011.

His blog, his domain, his Twitter and YouTube accounts all seem to have started about June of last year.

His Linkedin lists some plausible employment for a mechanical engineer, but comparing his userid to mine, that account hasn't been around too long either.

The Biomechanics professor he interviews in the video seems legit: http://www.kalons.nl/otten/ http://www.rug.nl/corporate/nieuws/opinie/2011/opinie29_2011... But the professor only speaks in general terms about the requirements for flight and is never seen again in the building or the testing videos.

Perhaps someone could check his Facebook. Does FB say when he signed up for that?

None of this is completely incriminating of course but sadly it does fit the pattern of an ad agency project.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#156

Post by aquarin »

achille wrote: post #100
angersock wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you read his dev blog? http://www.humanbirdwings.net/project-timeline/ It would seem that arguments about the system instead of the filming might, you know, be more productive.

Went through a number of his videos. Fake. 100%. Once you know when the CGI switch happens, it's just painful to watch. In this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0tKFOcHyrI#t=101s The switch happens in a moment of blur at 1:53. Here's some damning evidence: http://i.imgur.com/LODDp.jpg Top screenshots: Before CGI switch. Below images are after CGI switch. When seeing a video they point the camera down, so you "f…

1) Missing square element in real footage. 2) What bothers me more is that shadow properties are not consistent. In CGI it is more diffuse and changes properties like if the Sun is positioned 10m above.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#158

Post by grannyg00se »

angersock wrote: post #114
Lazare wrote: post #110

Watch a bird take off. Start with some pigeons, then some sea gulls. If you can, watch an albatross - on YouTube if nothing else. As you get larger, you get heavier; as you get heavier you need more lifting force (ie, bigger wings, moving faster). Recall that weight is a function of volume and increases with the cube of your dimensions, while lifting force is a function of surface area and only increases with the squ…

For the record, he's budgeting around 17 m^2 surface area for wing and 100 kg for pilot ( http://www.humanbirdwings.net/about/working-on-the-wings/ ). That's about 5 kg/m^2 wing loading, well within range of something for a microlight( http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1416&pagetype=90... ) if a bit heavy for an unpowered glider. EDIT: The wing surface (that kite he mentions sacrificing) is from one of these (…

That approximate wing loading calculation is assuming there is sufficient force to fully load the wing. He's not going to get that load on the wing by jogging a few feet and flapping those things at 1hz.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#159

Post by binarysolo »

petroica wrote: post #82
binarysolo wrote: post #30

Maybe the Internet has ruined me too, but this reminds me of that other viral ad campaign of guys running on water. http://gawker.com/5539222/how-not-to-fall-for-a-viral-market... (Yes it's Gawker but they did have one of the better write-ups :/ ). A few minutes browsing the project homepage ( http://www.humanbirdwings.net ) and WHOIS ( http://whois.net/whois/humanbirdwings.net ) makes it look more legit though...

How does the WHOIS info make it look more legit?

I guess I rather meant that it's subscribed through a GoDaddy-ish service instead of a marketing company that forgot to cover its tracks... :-/

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#160

Post by lemonman »

I initially thought it was real but after all the negative posts I have looked at the video closely. The GoPro camera take of the landing is what gives it away. Note how low the camera goes next to the ground, while we see the pilot always standing as he lands it. The flight was probably filmed with an RC and that is why see the camera go so low as it lands. But whether this is fake or not, it's irrelevant. This is a great idea and with the proper brains behind it, one should be able to make it work.
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