-=> On 04-13-98  01:52, Patrick Ford said to Ivy Iverson,<=-
-=>"About I'm back....(Look out!)...,"<=-
-=> In a message of 11 Apr 98 Ivy Iverson wrote to Ross Sauer:
 
Hi, Patrick;
...
 
 PF> I doubt very much that what you saw was a `computer reconstruction'
 PF> any more  than the pictures on science fiction covers are
 PF> `reconstructions'. In ten  minutes with PhotoShop, I can reconstruct
 PF> the face on the Sphinx to look  exactly like Elvis Presley. Would the
 PF> fact that it was done on a computer  instead of on paper lend it any
 PF> legitimacy? To el cheapo journalists catering  to
 PF> low-level-consciousness type readers it probably would! 
 
Actually, you are half right.  There are two ways of makng computer
reconstructions such as these.  One is, as you say, to use photoshop or
similar image editing software and edit a picture to what YOU think it
MIGHT have looked like when it was new.  I would expect the results of
this method to be found in the National Enquirer, (where contributors
are rumored to be fired for printing ANY facts!).  The other method, and
I believe this was what I saw, was to take careful measurements of the
object to be "reconstructed," calculate the rate that the surface was
worn away, then in the computer, "reverse the erosion."  As a check,
since the erosion rate is known, the process can be reversed, starting
with the "new" object, then eroding it in the computer to see if it
returns to what it is currently.  About the only thing that can't be
reconstructed on the Sphynx is the nose, unless a profile picture or
drawing can be found which showed it before the damage occured.
 
AAMOF, a similar process, (not the same but similar), is used by the FBI
to "age" pictures of people, such as missing children or wanted persons,
to see what they would look like a number of years after the last known
picture was taken.  The results are usually quite accurate.  The main
things that can't be predicted are such personal variables as hairstyle,
glasses and beard.
 
Catch you later... Be well.
   Ivy
 
 
 
... Old age is a disease without a cure.
 
          --
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