Nvidia Proves Moon Landing Photos Authentic

Blackwell Stith

See You Space Cowboy ...
Jun 28, 2014
144
0
0
Nvidia Proves Moon Landing Photos Authentic



While demonstrating the computational capabilities of their new Maxwell GPU, Nvidia successfully proved the authenticity of the photos taken during the Apollo 11 moon landing.

To celebrate the launch of the globally illuminated [http://devblogs.nvidia.com/parallelforall/maxwell-most-advanced-cuda-gpu-ever-made/]" 3D model of the lunar lander, the astronauts, and the surface of the moon.

The company used realistic lighting from authentic light sources to create the visual effects and shadows in its 3D landscape. The computer model incorporated separate 3D voxel grid structures that stored direct and indirect scene lighting that was used for global illumination calculations. These calculations factor in how light shines from direct sources and then refracts off indirect sources.

Conspiracy theorists have argued that the original picture taken in 1969 of astronaut Buzz Aldrin climbing down the ladder was doctored- since Aldrin should have been in the shadow of the lunar lander. According to Nvidia's researchers, the shadow argument can be countered by demonstrating how indirect illumination from the moon's surface shone on the back of the lander and Aldrin. A high amount of reflected light bounces off the surface of the moon, which explained why Aldrin was visible in the picture.


Another argument raised by conspiracy theorists concerns the lack of atmosphere on the moon and the fact that the stars are unable to be seen in the picture. The explanation behind this was Armstrong set the camera with a specific exposure setting. The camera was set at a low f-stop to prevent the sun from overexposing the image. Adjusting the f-stop in the simulation made the stars visible, but looking at the sun flooded the image.

To make their final point regarding the accuracy of the 3D model using voxel illumination, Nvidia compared the simulation to the real photograph of Aldrin descending the ladder. To the naked eye, the two images were identical.

Source: VentureBeat [http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/21/how-nvidia-used-global-illumination-to-prove-we-really-did-land-men-on-the-moon/]

Click here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/science-and-tech/everything] for more Science and Tech news on The Escapist!


Permalink
 

Vivi22

New member
Aug 22, 2010
2,300
0
0
It's neat, but it's not like the Moon landing really needed defending from the batshit insane conspiracy people who can't bother doing the most basic research to find out their points are garba... er... I mean, obviously Nvidia traveled back in time with these cards and faked the Moon landing to draw conspiracy attention away from their future time machine.

Yeah, that's it. >.>
 

Micah Weil

New member
Mar 16, 2009
499
0
0
The conspiracy nuts aren't gonna care. nVidia will be aligned with the Illuminati, the Lizard Men, and Rush Limbaugh's left nut because of this. Weird Al's "Foil" will still be relevant.
 

tippy2k2

Beloved Tyrant
Legacy
Mar 15, 2008
14,316
1,492
118
Sure it is NVIDIA...

or should I say SECRET US GOVERNMENT AGENCY!!!!!!!?

I've been saying for years that NVIDIA was actually a secret government project designed to get into your computers and hack everything and here's my proof! I didn't think NVIDIA would just hand over the proof this easy but I guess they expected us non-sheeple to not realize their mistake.

Fools! Now I must be going, I'm almost out of tin foil and my hat is getting banged up a bit. Don't want the aliens reading my thoughts, am I right?!?
 

Hairless Mammoth

New member
Jan 23, 2013
1,595
0
0
The only thing necessary to shut up conspiracy theorists about the moon landing is Buzz Aldrin's punch: (Juicy part at 1:33.) That's some neat nVidia tech, too. I'd like more simulations, like this one, done with the tech.
 

Queen Michael

has read 4,010 manga books
Jun 9, 2009
10,400
0
0
What, you think conspiracy theorists will accept this? It doesn't prove what they want to believe is true, and they have a depressing tendency to only accept evidence that does.
 

maneyan

New member
Sep 22, 2014
27
0
0
Not gonna stop them. Sadly, the conspiracy theory nonsense surrounding the moon landings has taken on a life of its own. They will keep cherry picking evidence, ignoring logical holes in their own ideas and keep feeding their own biases. It's a sad, unavoidable fact.

I will say this on a more positive note however. Now there's a PR-gig I can get behind!
 

Uratoh

New member
Jun 10, 2011
419
0
0
Indeed...this proof won't demonstrate the moon landing's validity to nutjobs any more than actually sticking them in a rocket and taking them there would. Loonies gonna loon, and all that.
 

gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
4,419
0
0
Hairless Mammoth said:
The only thing necessary to shut up conspiracy theorists about the moon landing is Buzz Aldrin's punch: (Juicy part at 1:33.)
You should also mention, the judge ruled that it was self defence when Buzz got taken to court for that.

Moments like that remind me that this planet is worth living on sometimes.
 

Objectable

New member
Oct 31, 2013
867
0
0
Please, we all know the moon landing was faked. But thanks to the spaceship we picked up from Roswell, we managed to fake it... ON THE MOON! THAT'S why it looks so real!
 

KaZuYa

New member
Mar 23, 2013
191
0
0
I was going to make a joke about Challenger running an AMD card but that would be in entirely bad taste so I won't.
 

Fappy

\[T]/
Jan 4, 2010
12,010
0
41
Country
United States
Nvidia confirmed to be anti-Gamergate :p

In all seriousness, this is good. Then again, I doubt even the most compelling piece of evidence you could hope to bring to light would change the minds of the crazies.
 

Atmos Duality

New member
Mar 3, 2010
8,473
0
0
Uratoh said:
Indeed...this proof won't demonstrate the moon landing's validity to nutjobs any more than actually sticking them in a rocket and taking them there would. Loonies gonna loon, and all that.
Sending crazies to the moon in a rocket? Hell, let them go without suits; they're obviously just props after all.
Then again, violent decompression almost sounds too good for them...

It's insulting for those armchair pseudo-scientists to denounce one of humanity's greatest achievements just because they need to fuel some anti-establishment agenda.
 

Vigormortis

New member
Nov 21, 2007
4,531
0
0
Didn't the Mythbusters do something similar years ago, only with practical set effects?

Pretty sure their findings have done nothing to dissuade the loons who still believe the moon landing was faked.[footnote]Last I heard upwards of 20% of US residents believe it was faked. Fuck, is that depressing.[/footnote]

Regardless, that was a pretty cool demonstration of render tech.
 

Louzerman102

New member
Mar 12, 2011
191
0
0
KaZuYa said:
I was going to make a joke about Challenger running an AMD card but that would be in entirely bad taste so I won't.
I probably shouldn't respond because, I also agree jokes about aircraft disasters are usually in poor taste. However my understanding of GPUs is that a craft burning up due to overheating would be aligned with nvidia and AMD would be aligned with a space program with no drivers like ORION that never got off the ground.
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

New member
Sep 6, 2009
6,019
0
0
They have been constantly proving that the moon landing was real since we landed on the moon. If they couldn't convince the conspiracy theorists then, this won't do it.

It is a pretty cool tech demonstration though.
 

Johnson McGee

New member
Nov 16, 2009
516
0
0
I just don't understand the psyche of a conspiracy theorist. I mean, give them all the concessions, admit that everything they say is true; what does it change? Nothing. The only possible payoff they could possibly have is feeling smug about 'knowing' more than other people. All these assholes who harp nonstop about illuminati or whatever never have a plan for what they're actually going to DO about it.

So I have a theory: Conspiracy theorists are themselves a conspiracy! Paid government agents sent out to convince stupid people that the government have things so under control that voting is pointless. Then they can just re-elect incumbents over and over again!

O.T. Bravo to Nvidia for adding more evidence to the pile but frankly I'd rather they just spent the time making my video card stop crashing when I play TF2 rather than indulge those idiots.

(As an academic, pseudoscience of any sort rustles my jimmies something powerful)
 

Endocrom

New member
Apr 6, 2009
1,242
0
0
Truman: What's that? Photo manipulation isn't good enough to fake the moon landing yet? Invent NASA and tell them to get off their fannies!