Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hpfcdc!hpfcdj!myers
From: myers@hpfcdj.HP.COM (Bob Myers)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: Computer generated Porn?
Message-ID: <470003@hpfcdj.HP.COM>
Date: 19 May 89 17:53:25 GMT
References: <2272@pur-phy>
Organization: Hewlett Packard -- Fort Collins, CO
Lines: 30

>"No actors" instead of "No actors under age 18."  Does anyone
>want to hazard a guess on how many years it will be before
>technology reaches this point. (I'd guess 25 years, myself.)


25 years is a little high, I think.  As an example, the kind of image
quality shown in "Tin Toy" or other recent computer-generated films is
probably high enough for a "saleable" product of this nature; it's just
not practical yet for a X-rated movie producer to invest the $/time
required fror something like this when live "talent" (?) is so available
and a cheap movie or video camera is just that.  All that's needed. though,
is for the cost of the hardware to drop and the speed rise just a little.
My guess is somewhere around 10 years out.  (10 years ago, when I started 
with HP, the 9845B desktop computer (anybody remember those?) was our top
of the line, and a graphics machine like the TurboSRX wasn't even a glimmer 
in some crazy engineer's eye.  Now, think where we'll be by 1999!)


There was a movie a few years back that dealt with just this issue; I can't
remember the title right now, but it starred (among others) Susan Dey,
and was based on some Big Evil Corporation scanning live actresses, then
using their computer-animated images to produce films (mostly commercials).
The actresses weren't needed then. of course, and were killed off.  Not
a great flick, but possibly a good prediction of where the technology may
be taking us.  (Although hopefully without bumping off the talent! :-))


Bob Myers  KC0EW   HP Graphics Tech. Div.|  Opinions expressed here are not
                   Ft. Collins, Colorado |  those of my employer or any other
{the known universe}!hplabs!hpfcla!myers |  sentient life-form on this planet.