I know that stretch of road pretty well, so 405 the movie was particularly enjoyable, all the more so since I've grown old waiting for 3D graphics to render. More on that in a minute.

Speaking of special effects, I just saw LOR Return of the King (trailer)over the Xmas holiday, and I thought the special effects were among the best I've ever seen. Recommended. Also recommended: wait until the crowds subside a bit. I broke that long-standing vow, and paid for my lack of patience.

I agree that, given the current state of the art, it is relatively routine to approach reality with 3D graphics.

For example, anybody with 3D rendering tools like Lightwave, Max, Maya, SoftImage, or even Truespace or PoV-Ray, for that matter, or any one of a number of other packages, to say nothing of photo manipulation software such Photoshop or Photopaint, vector illustration applications like CorelDraw, Illustrator....the list goes on...could quite easily create very lifelike CGI of, say, a disk-shaped object hanging in or streaking across the sky. Images looking up are quite easy, almost to the point of being child's play. Images looking down or in other directions are a little more difficult.

As with other endeavors, the genius is in the details.

In the case of the image in question, the now somewhat infamous desert saucer-house, there were a number of details - both in the image itself, and external to it - which I thought tended to rule out CGI, and made me think that the image might be an authentic photograph. Some of those thoughts are reflected in my comments, above.

Thanks for your comments and input. 405 is great!

S