#Forensic Also…
14 messages in this thread
This request was posted by another person but I found no further messages on
the subject. I need a source of animations accepted in court as evidence. I am
in Jackson, MS and y'all may have noticed but this area has a slight reputation
as being "resistant to change". The Insurance, Legal & Law Enforcement folks
here need proof that I did not create 3dStudio for my own enjoyment as well as
proof that I am not the only person who has ever made "cartoons on a computer".
It is as frustating as it sounds, is there a legal forum with this information?
I copied down the info from R2's CD ( /forensic ) but I don't remember it
mentioning which state.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I was probably the person that posted the original message. I am looking to set
up a national company with local offices doing quality forensic animations.
Might you have an interest?
Alec Jason is active doing forensic animations with 3ds (specializing in
ballistics). He's on this forum a lot, so perhaps he'll see this message and
contact you. Unfortunately, the person at Autodesk who handles forensic
animation is on sabbatical. You might try contacting him when he gets back in,
I believe, February. He's Andy Reese, and his number is 415-332-8614. There are
some other people doing legal animations with 3ds on this forum, so you
shouldn't have too much difficulty finding enough "witnesses." ('course most of
the rest of us are doing cartoons. <g>)
– Jack
Well, Alec Jason is regularly here on the forum, and he's had plenty of
animations accepted as legal evidence. Ken Loss-Cutler occasionally drops in
as well, and he also has had animations accepted as evidence. I think there's
a legal forum here on CIS… you might look that up as well.
Andy Reese is Autodesk forensic animation guy, but he's on vacation till the
beginning of the year. You could try calling him after the 1st.
– G
Gary,
Yeah, I'm here. I just got back from two days on the witness stand in a
homicide case in Alaska. We got the animation accepted which is the first
computer animation ever used in a criminal trial in Alaska.
Oh, I used to proudly state that I have never used the Morph function in 3DS.
This is because I have associated morphing with all the metaphysical, sci-fi,
flying-logo, weirdo, sur-real, fantasy, sissy stuff that most people think of
as examples of 3D animation. But I did actually use morph very effectively in
my Alaska animation to graphically represent the acoustic dynamics associated
with gunshots.
So I guess there _is_ a legitimate use for the morph feature! <g>
Alec Jason
Wow! You mean that morphing is actually USEFUL? Be still my beating heart.
<g>
Seriously, congratulations for pulling off another first. And in Alaska, no
less! I'd love to see your animation… it's hard for me to imagine how you
can represent the acoustic dynamics of ballistics. Shock waves? Very
interesting, Mr. J.
– G
>>…all the metaphysical, sci-fi, flying-logo, weirdo, sur-real, fantasy,
sissy stuff…
Now I see why you wanted a way to globally set the Continuity to 0 in the
Keyframer. Get rid of those soft, curving moves and stick with the hard, manly,
robotlike action.
– Jack
Hi, I just happened to be lurking and I saw your message. Kelly Dove wrote an
article in CADENCE (July 1993) on forensic animation. In it she describes two
cases in which forensic animation was used in criminal cases. You might check
with the people at Computer Graphic World as well. I wouldn't be at all
surprised if they didn't have a story or two on the subject. — Kathleen
Alec is the world renowned expert. He's in Alaska on a case but should be back
tomorrow. His CIS ID is 71137,2632 if you want to drop him a note. Also check
out the Sept 13th InfoWorld magazine.
JKJ
Real Maxwell, I got in middle of this thread. We do forensic work with a
specialization in traffic accident reconstruction. We have used 3DS in court
to show the jury our reconstruction, driver views, etc. It is necessary to
describe in some detail how to go from raw data to tv picture, but no long
detailed thesis has been needed so far. We have had good results with 3DS in
court and we prefer to refer to our images as a scientific visualization of our
numerical reconstruction, since all motion is within the constraints of
Newtonian reality <g>. James
I've been creating forensic animations for about two years. The forensic
animation on the r2.0 CD is the animation I created for the the Mitchell
Brothers homicide trial in California. I don't know who you are talking to but
animation has been used in trials (mostly civil) for many years.
I don't keep track of all the cases. You might check with the fellow who has
been leaving messages on this forum collecting info on forensic animation uses.
Alec Jason
Real — As Gary and Jack from the Yost Group said, I am on sabbatical from
Autodesk until next year, but I would be happy to talk to you on the phone
about forensic animation. Call me at 707-778-6331. I mau be able to provide
you with some information that will help you.
andy
You're supposed to be RELAXING!
– J
Since when have I ever been very good about relaxing??