EMAIL TITLE: MUFON Investigation Shows Drone Photos Hoaxed

Recently Posted At VirtuallyStrange.net (5th July 2007)

(NOTE - EMAIL FROM 16th MAY)

---

UFO UpDates

A mailing list for the study of UFO-related phenomena

'Its All Here In Black & White'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MUFON Investigation Shows Drone Photos Hoaxed

From: Bill Hamilton < skyman22 .nul>

Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2007 07:56:18 -0700

Archived: Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:40:05 -0400

Subject: MUFON Investigation Shows Drone Photos Hoaxed

I received this on the MUFON LA mailing list and thought
it would be worth posting it here. I have examined the
related CARET docs and have detected some erroneous
statements on antigravity. The whole affair seems
contrived as a hoax, but why?

-Bill Hamilton

-----

Dear MUFON LA Members and Supporters,

Many of you have expressed your certainty that the alleged drone
photos which appear on C2C and Earthfiles are the real deal. I
decided to log on to MUFON.com, and see what the field
investigator assigned to the case came up with. Incidentally,
the investigator turned out to be the SSD for that district.
Befitting for such a high profile case, don’t you agree? Here
are his comments:

INVESTIGATION AND REPORT

May 16, 2007

The object in the attached images within this report first
appeared several weeks earlier on the Coast to Coast web site
page. This new witness report was posted May 12, 2007. http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page2022.html?theme=light

I had several trusted friends & experts in CGI (computer
generated Images) examine these images, as well as the earlier
Coast to Coast images. One examiner is Mr. Steve Neil who has
and continues to do computer generated images for the History
channels television program 'UFO Files'. The other effects
person is a Mr. Marc D' Antonio. He owns and operates a business
in Connecticut named FX Models. http://www.fxmodels.com/

Marc is a former MUFON Field investigator, and has taught
Astronomy for a number of years at a local area east coast
college. Both Marc & Steve I would consider well grounded and I
would consider them both 'non-skeptics' related to 'UFO's. They
think UFO's are 'real' and likely 'extraterrestral' in origin.
Marc works with computer generated images every day. Both
experts state all images of this object are clearly fakes. Mr.
D' Antonio is one of my valued expert contacts I network with in
studying UFO photographs. He has volunteered to assist in future
cases.

Marc examined the Coast to Coast images days earlier week (May
10) earlier. I contacted Marc again when this latest witness
report was posted on CMS shortly later (May 12, 2007).

Attached images have been studied by these two friends in the
Special visual computer effects industry. They both
independently state this object is clearly a CG fake.

Marc writes "Those of us in that community can look at and
immediately spot, fakery. I have to say that this one is not
actually even a GOOD fake."

Marc further writes:

Why?

In one of the images, you can see that the faker used, something
called "radiosity" to render the images. The technique allows
for more realistic images and makes things look very good, as if
lit by the sun in this case. Well, in ONE of the radiosity
images supposedly looking up at the 'fake ship' from directly
below it is clear that the faker didn't take care in setting his
settings for the renderer and you can see classic "radiosity
render artifacts" in the dark shadow areas of the CG craft. They
show up as mottling in the shadows instead of smooth
transitions. It is what happens when you want the rendering to
be finished quickly. If radiosity settings were used to make the
image look absolutely real, each image could take tens of hours
to render perhaps.

In another shot where the craft ought to have been some distance
away, it is sharp and clear as if there is suddenly no
atmospheric haze.

Finally, in one image the faker composited the craft to appear
behind tree branches. This is easy to perform. The faker used
something called an Alpha map which affords you JUST this
capability.

Sooner or later, I will bet that a 'video' will emerge, and the
faker is no doubt working on it but doesn't like the results I
guarantee because the radiosity renders take a long time to
render per frame and in motion, he has to get all his Photoshop
type filtering done on the fly within his rendering software and
it isn't as easy.

When I saw this I winced at how obvious the fakery is and how
utterly uneducated the coast to coast people are for falling for it.
The faker, named 'Chad' is a complete and total fabricator."

I have still sent a request to the above witness Email address
wishing a interview, following Mufon investigative proceedures.
I plan to play this interview 'dumb smart' (if it ever occurs
- but hope so) wishing to glean any further information if
possible and post it here. It maybe possible these images
submitted were hoaxed by someone else, rather than by the
witnesses themselves (names stated above).

I suspect the Coast to Coast web site appearance was a trial run
before posting here in the Mufon CMS. The attached images files
from Coast to Coast read in the image file text' the name
'McKinley'. The same witness name above in the witness report.

I seriously doubt the 'Coast to Coast' people may even know
about this authenticity issue.

As of May 16, 2007, I have not recieved any reply from these
witnesses.

Clearly a 'HOAX'. Case completed, but will reopen should I
recieve get a reply from the witness. (hopefully).

Very Respectfully,

Steve Reichmuth
Mufon - Northern California

SSD - Alameda / Contra Costa Co.

May 16, 2007 (20:19 hours)”

As you can see from his comments, Mr. Reichmuth is convinced
that the photos are a HOAX. So don’t get too excited. Know that
there are people out there who get their jollies from spoofing
the unsuspecting and gullible. Hey, don’t feel too bad. If it
makes you feel any better, I thought they looked real too. As
ancient Chinese proverb say; “believe nothing of what you hear,
and only half of what you see”. Or maybe that was Kwai Chang
Caine. No matter.

Steve R. Murillo

State Section Director
MUFON L.A.

Buenos Aries UFO Sighting Hoaxed - UFODigest Solved – Metal Gear Ray UFO!!

The alleged UFO sighting was Buenos Aires, Argentina on May 2, 2007 at around 5 p.m. (local time). It was reported to UFODigest by Gaston Damian Martinez.

UFODigest ran with the story, putting it out on the internet to see what other people thought of it. This resulted in a mass of emails to UFODigest, examining the photos, questioning the authenticity and as per usual proffering, “Photoshop” as the most likely culprit.

Metal Gear Solid: Before long, UFODigest.com was informed by a reader that MUFON director, James Carrion posted a report on the MUFON message board stating that the UFO was no more than a toy or model based on the popular video game, “Metal Gear Solid”.

Metal Gear Ray: Basically, Metal Gear is the name for a series of fictional mecha in the Metal Gear Solid series of video games. While each game has a new Metal Gear with a different role, they are typically autonomous nuclear launch platforms. The Metal Gear RAY model was designed as a counter measure of all the Metal Gear variations around the world.

Metal Gear RAY, designed by Yoji Shinkawa, was first introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, but was initially previewed as an image in Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions (released before MGS2), once the game had been completed. Also in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, a miniature model of the Metal Gear RAY can be seen when Snake is talking to Granin in his office.

The main bone of contention was the three little circular symbols and the writing, which as you can see by the comparison below is identical in both where it's situated and the actual content.

(Photgraphed UFO is on bottom of picture)

Occam's Razor Strikes Again!! Occam's razor is basically a theory that purports, “The explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible,” or alternatively, “All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one.” and it is in this sense that Occam's razor is usually understood.

And with regards to the UFO and in light of the new evidence it means that Gaston or his accomplices must have simply threw the object into the air and photographed it. This act in itself was enough to fool the majority of people who it seems are looking for increasingly complex methods of how the image was faked.

It seems that as the interest of the public in the UFO phenomenon is matched and often exceeded by fraudulent hoaxers who have nothing better to do with their time than to create and release these alleged pictures of UFO's.

Riding On The Coat Tails Of Serious UFO Investigations: If anything this entire episode should (and hopefully will> serve as a warning to all UFOlogists and people in general who are currently researching, investigating or are merely interested in UFO's to be on their guard. Because for every serious UFOlogist out there, it appears that there are a greater number of these misinformed, misdirected, small-minded time wasters who do absolutely nothing to further the study of UFO's and whose ultimate goal it seems is to add a little excitement to their lives.

To view forum topic on the, "Buenos Aries UFO", to comment or to discuss this UFO sighting further, visit here.