GEEK POST: There’s another word for “hyper-real.” It’s “Fake.” I came across an is it real or is it CG test the other day, and managed 9 out of 10. Disappointing, actually… You’d think, with all the amazing stuff achieved in movies and commercials today, they’d be able to fool me. It’s not like I’m some CG expert, or the technology hasn’t quite gotten there.

No, this was probably a result of the images being chosen by people who do CG for a living. There’s a certain level of selective occular denial that can creep into things, once you’ve driven yourself nuts trying to accurately recreate something simple, and run up against how difficult it can be. Especially if it’s holding still, and can be scrutinized. The truth is, we’re all experts at detecting certain kinds of visual BS, especially in things that matter. That’s why we’re still waiting for a truly believable CG human face � we’re trained from birth to detect the slightest nuance, there. Dinosaurs and giant apes — hardly simple — still are comparatively easy; how many of those have you actually seen?