Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with CGI

what is "backend of a site seal" called on scriptlance?

Izzmeister — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:15:20 -0800

how do the online BBB seals and safety seal work on the back end? I am trying to make a seal for members of an organization I am part of.

the Better business bureau has a seal which members put on their website with a code that links back to them.. which says when clicked upon "this is a member in good standing".

same things for site safety seals...

how do I create such a seal? i can go on elance or scriptlance, but I have no idea what I am trying to describe...

how hard is this to create, and how would i describe it best so I don't get taken for a ride?

I have the graphic.... I need the "CGI backend" or however it should be described.

Thank you MeFi!

Why the CGI expense?

zardoz — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:45:55 -0800

Why are CGI-animated films so expensive? It appears that a typical CGI film-a la Pixar- costs a comparable amount to a live action movie...in the tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars. I can see where all the money goes in a live action shoot: physical locations, sets, props, explosions, stunts, etc. But with a CGI film it's (mostly) nerds pecking away on computers. Okay, that's simplifying things, but you get my point.

So where does all the money go?

Name That Video: Surreal animated interview between student and master.

hatsix — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:22:42 -0800

Looking for a video I saw on the internet before May 2008. It was an interview with a ton of post-processing, making it very surreal. Seeing this image reminded me of the video. I seem to remember the interviewer was an art student, or a student of the interviewee. The interviewee had been down on his luck, and it seemed as if the interview was happening in a soup kitchen or hostel. I associate two words with the interviewee: "video art", but I can't think of any sort of title he might have. I remember the video was very colorful, and the subjects bodies seemed to... fade, contract, pulse... It felt as if there was original video, but it was completely animated over top of.

Help me avoid coding a lame webpage!

perrce — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:07:18 -0800

I need a simple cgi-bin script that implements a scoreboard or counter for multiple teams. So a buddy of mine wants a simple web page that allows a handful of users to log in, view the scores of other teams, and increment or set their own score. For example, if you logged in as John, you might see something resembling:



Tim: 12

Pete: 9

John: 13 + -

Luke: 10

The + and - above would be buttons that John could use to increment his score (or maybe it's a text box with a submit button). Basically, he's looking for something really simple (a simple Perl cgi-bin script would be fine), and security is basically a non-issue.

This is something I could probably put together in perl in a couple hours, but the script he needs is state-of-the-art circa 1997, and there's really nothing that interests me beyond the fact that a friend's requested it. Besides, this has got to have been implemented before and I'd rather reuse than rewrite. I did some Google searches, but came up empty. Anyone have any suggestions for something that will work out of the box, or something close that I can modify?

Computer generated fur softly lit with flickering candle light

umbú — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 20:59:12 -0800

How automated is PIXAR-caliber computer animation these days? I just watched Wall-e, and was blown away by the lighting effects, the depth-of-field of the 'camera,' etc. As an admirer of good CGI who knows little about the ins and outs of this technology, I ask you: how would you experts out there describe its current capabilities? What are the current weaknesses and frustrations for animators? What are some pivotal innovations that are just around the horizon?

Exactly to what extent are the scenes rendered frame-by-frame by an animator, like they were back when they were hand drawn, versus, to what extent is it a matter of designing a creature, determining how it moves, and then letting it loose?

Howdunit?

Bobby Bittman — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:44:00 -0800

[FilmmakingFilter] Can someone tell me how this music video was made? I understand that CGI was used extensively (at certain points, in fact, it's entirely CGI), but what I'm interested in is the fast-travelling-over-terrain effect. I'm pretty sure it's the same effect Dennis Muren and co. used for the speeder bike chases in Return of the Jedi, which was just walking through the terrain with a steadycam, shooting at 4fps or something similarly slow.

The question is, though: why aren't the clouds moving? Are they composited in afterwards?

I'd love to use this technique myself and am fiending for an explanation. Thank you.

Can I write to a div using Perl, or otherwise solve my form submission problem?

unsigned — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:11:10 -0800

Can I write to a div using Perl, or otherwise solve my form submission problem? I have a Perl/CGI form mailer script that I didn't write and shouldn't edit too much, but can somewhat.

It's currently set up so that I can define the thank you page and error page within the Perl file. I don't want it to redirect to those pages however. I want to display the messages on the page the form is on instead, without reloading if possible. I played around with redirecting to the same page but appending a parameter in the URL. Then using JS to show a div if that var was set. But I'm realizing I need to display some of the items submitted from the form and I don't know how to keep those values since the page is being refreshed.

I don't know Perl so I don't know if there is a better way to do this, but can I do something like write to a div with Perl? Other ideas?

Looking for Art Exhibition CGI video

Dub — Sun, 04 May 2008 09:03:48 -0800

I'm looking for a source (video name, who did it, what the music is called, why was it made, is it available online, any other information) of the CGI video that appears at the very start of this YouTube video of Tomorrows World c1984 clip. I don't know whether it was a Fairlight CVI that created the effect (or CMI in the music) - I'm not that interested if it was / wasn't - I would just like to see the video again I also really liked the music.

I seem to recall it was a SIGGRAPH entrant or something - and the CGI video followed a visitor (or possibly a security guard?) around a (closed?) CGI Art exhibit, as various (famous) paintings came to life around him.

I've looked around the SIGGRAPH sites, but I couldn't find any early videos.

Any pointers gratefully received.

How to create fractals within Maya?

supyo — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:38:49 -0800

Fractal creation/generation within Maya? I've searched long and hard for a method to create fractals within Autodesk Maya 8.5. I have tested XenoDream, but the following pictures are taken to a whole different level. 1, 2, 3. I understand that Sunflow is a renderer and that it has the ability to generate these fractal structures based on coding functions (dug deep into their forums). But I need the ability to animate and tweak the models within Maya...

Looking to other methods, I've googled around and found aggregation fractals. This took my research into newfound lands of DLA.

I'm not expecting any easy way out, but I am unable to really find any foundational information about this process. Here is a way to use Maya's MEL scripting to control generative fractals, but I am simply no coder! Here is a plug-in that works with L-Systems, but its so thick and messy! This last architect study could be useful, but still lacks the detail of DLA fractals.

I have included most of my research to show what I currently know; hopefully someone can point me in the proper direction. I would greatly appreciate any help!

How accurate are CGI characters rendered?

sonofslim — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:37:57 -0800

Have there been any CGI films rendered with enough fidelity that a skilled lip-reader could follow the dialogue?

A woman asks - and flinches...

Jody Tresidder — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:53:30 -0800

Celine Dion and Elvis - the duet - on last night's "Idol Gives Back". Oh pity please, how was it done? I've tried every combination I can on google/technorati.

3D animation

phaedon — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 21:31:04 -0800

I do not know the first thing about 3D animation. help! I have a good background in graphic design, and i moonlight as a flash programmer/designer - where i output and implement the majority of my work. I'm a big believer of learning-by-web, but I'm stumped here. I would like to create three-dimensional objects (not landscapes) that might find in all forms of modern media - the right-bottom corners of television, and video games introductions that blend live video with with CGI, to name a few. "Abstract information" is good, but ultimately this is about practical application. I'm not in a position to go back to school. And I exclusively use Mac OS X. I was hoping for some pointers.

Why is the CGI in Jurassic Park so good?

caek — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 04:24:18 -0800

Why is the CGI in Jurassic Park so good? Despite being nearly fifteen years old, it's no worse than that in The Lord of the Rings and King Kong, and certainly better than the recent Star Wars movies. While watching Jurassic Park over Christmas it occurred to me that the CGI is very, very good. (I realise that many of the close-up scenes are animatronics, and I'm not talking about those.) Other people I've spoken to seem to agree, so I don't think it's just me being charitable.

I haven't seen much better CGI in a Hollywood film since. Those that are as good (most of The Lord of the Rings, for instance) certainly aren't consistent with fifteen years of technical progress. Many films are much, much worse (Jar Jar, I'm looking at you).

So what was special about Jurassic Park? Did it have a bigger budget? An unusually talented crew? A particularly easy subject (dinosaurs)? Or am I just seeing things here? Is CGI in modern films better than that in Jurassic Park?

Pi-ta-go-ra su-i-chi!

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 06:39:49 -0800

In this collection of clips of Rube Goldberg machines for NHK's Pitagora Suichi, was CG animation used? Obviously, one can ignore the 1"30 of cartoon at the top, and the japanorific dancing bit in the middle, I'm only talking about the domino effect devices.

I don't know. Some things look decidedly detailed and real, but others (some balls, cups, etc.) look very CGI-ey to my eye, what with their just-too-perfect texture and motion. There's just not enough *randomness* I guess.

So what's the deal? Is it all live action? Some live action and some CGI? Or pure CGI? Greenscreening perhaps?

Thanks in advance, and if watching this clip makes you whistle the "Pi-ta-go-ra su-i-chi!" tune for the rest of the day, I'm sorry about the earworm.

How to twist the words of others to my own dire purposes?

bingo — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 02:21:14 -0800

I want to create a web application in which the user enters text into a field and clicks on a submit button, and the text is then altered based on a set of conditions and given back to the user. What's the easiest way of doing this? I have a vague idea that I should use Perl and CGI. I don't know Perl or CGI, but I do know a bit of Java, a bit about servlets and JSPs, some Visual Basic, and quite a bit about http. I realize that there is a certain irony to my posting this on metafilter, where there is clearly something similar at work, but that unfortunately, being on the user end of that doesn't make it clear to me what the actual mechanism is.

Moving web-based business to a new web coder without falling flat on our faces?

unclemonty — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 05:47:46 -0800

We're losing a freelance, outsourced web coder that our business relies upon. How do we find and then transition over to someone new without losing loads of money and time? Story inside. I co-own a small London-based company which does a lot of its business via the web. Our service involves a reasonably complex backend that does everything from customer management to dynamic updating of certain website components, accepting payments from our customers and delivering documents to them.

This has all been coded in CGI / Perl by an Indian programmer who we found almost by accident five years ago and has been amazing to work with over the past few years.

Unfortunately he is now letting us down and despite our best efforts to get him involved, offering more money and so on, we can barely make contact with him. His business has expanded but also apparently he's suffering some legal action.

We have the site and database backed up, and it's hosted at a location separate to the designer. But we need to move ahead and get the site completely refreshed; we already have a new graphical frontend and CSS to integrate, not to mention various new components spec'd but not built for the backend. So we need to find someone to examine our existing code, understand it, and start to help us maintain and update it.

Ideally we'd like like a freelancer for regular work - we'd prefer it if they were in our timezone, better still in London, so we can get in touch easily. And they need to be pretty sharp at CGI / Perl to understand the existing stuff. But what problems are we likely to face and what are the classic mistakes we could make during this transition? What should we ask for when selecting a new coder, and where would we look? Metafilter Jobs seems like a possibility but doesn't seem to have a lot of UK traffic.

Ensuring My Forms Are Spam-Safe

Dreama — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:54:06 -0800

Is the script that powers my contact form spam-safe? I'm about to start up a semi-commercial web endeavor that will need several contact forms (all directed my way, each with a different purpose). I've been using a very simple .cgi script to power my contact form for quite a while and I've been pleased with it on my personal site. But before I incorporate the script into a commercial site, I want to be sure that it cannot be used to send spam to others.

By what means could I go about testing the script to keep my sites out of the hands of those who would use them for nefarious means?

Who's got mail? That is the Question.

DragonBoy — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 14:29:23 -0800

We're trying to build a web based, semi-automated careers referral program on the company website. We'd like employees to send specific job postings to friends via our website. Due to anti-spam circumventions in formmail and other such programs, this is proving difficult. What CGI/PHP tools would you recommend? The basic idea is this; an employee enters their friend's email and their own in a form on our company website. When they hit submit a personalized invitation to visit our careers section is sent to their friend.

e.g.
"Hi Bill,

Did you know we've got a lot of nice job postings on our site? You should check them out.

Your friend, Bob"

Back in the day I'd have used FormMail to handle this but thanks to spammers I can't use FormMail to send to an unverified email address. How do I automate this funciton on our site without opening our SendMail up to spammers while keeping with the personalization of receiving job postings from friends that we want to keep?

You Sir, name password.

DragonBoy — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 14:33:09 -0800

WebSecurityFilter: I'm looking for a PHP or CGI script which would redirect a user to their password protected folder when they enter their username and password. I am trying to build a single entry point for client access to resource files online. The idea is that I can pass out a single 'client access' URL where the client can enter their username and password which would be verified and then redirected to their folder on the server.

The maintenance of this tool needs to be absurdly easy as I plan on handing off maintenance of this to a non-tech-savvy person ASAP.

Does cgi negatively affect pagerank?

Manjusri — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 14:03:07 -0800

Will converting a home page from shtml to cgi negatively impact its pagerank? I'm contemplating making the above change for a friend, who requires the ability to pass a parameter to her home page. She has heard somewhere that changing to a cgi script will torpedo her ranking. I've been unable to confirm or rule this out using google. Any insight?

CGI query strings in MT?

o2b — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 17:32:47 -0800

I'm doing some Movable Type development. I'd like to add a custom query string to the normal mt-search strings. I was hoping to use PHP to do something with the string, but unfortunately I can't run PHP in the CGI files. Any options? I'm not a CGI writer, so I may be missing something obvious.

Simple matchmoving program?

brundlefly — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 18:40:22 -0800

A question for any FX nerds out there: Can you recommend a good matchmoving program? It has to be for OS X and compatible with (preferably) After Effects or Combustion, and Maya. Ease of use would be a plus, as well. This is my first foray into matchmoving.

Running javascript from within cgi-Script

elphTeq — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 20:18:41 -0800

I use a free cgi mailing list script that generates a html template for the admin interface and user feedback for sign-up. The site i am implementing it on today has some basic preload/rollover javascript within the HEAD of the HTML document, but the javascript aint working on the template the cgi outputs. How do i need to format the javascript so that it works from the cgi-script? Is it the paranthese, curlies, semicolons or brackets that need to be slashed? Or all four? Here's what I got:



function newImage(arg) {

	if (document.images) {

		rslt = new Image();

		rslt.src = arg;

		return rslt;

	}

}



function changeImages() {

	if (document.images && (preloadFlag == true)) {

		for (var i=0; i

Perl, CGI, and Apache

IshmaelGraves — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 21:56:58 -0800

I have a Perl script which is supposed to handle user registration. It works fine from the command line (perl blah.pl "username=blah&password=blah") but doesn't modify the file it's supposed to modify when run as a CGI script in Apache 2.0. I'm assuming this is some sort of permissions issue, but I've done chmod a+w and chmod 777 on the file in question and still no luck. Is there something I need in my httpd.conf?

Apologies if this is a really inane question, but my brain is fried right now and the Apache docs might as well be Greek.

(Also: I know I shouldn't keep my user data in a file. Eventually I will switch to some sort of SQL database. For the moment, though, I'd like to get the authentication crap out of the way so I can work on the fun bits of my webapp.)

Not that I have any, I swear, but is CGI child porn legal?

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 08:15:01 -0800

Not that I have any, I swear, but is CGI child porn legal?