Computer
Graphics
What’s
In a Graphic Display of Technical Information?
Success.
Computer graphics and animation are of immeasurable
value in pretrial hearings and courtroom presentations
because they provide the visual link necessary
for a jury to comprehend the technical testimony
of an engineer or scientific witness. The evidence,
technical facts and opinions of an engineer or
reconstructionist may be complicated. For
the layperson – such as a juror –
to adequately understand and integrate evidence,
facts, and opinions, information must be presented
in an organized and easy-to-follow-and-understand
format.
Bison
Engineering’s full complement of quality
graphics and video services simplify, enhance,
and clarify the testimony of the expert witness.
What
Display Works Best?
The
graphics can take several forms:
- Poster
Displays
-
Video Production and Animation
- 3-D
Graphics
Poster
size displays help present site plans, equipment
cross-sections, auto accident sites, charts, and
graphs in either two or three dimensions. One
big advantage of displays over video animation
is that the witness can easily refer to the display
throughout the testimony. Plus, experience has
shown that many times other witnesses will refer
to the display during the proceedings –
thus establishing the expert’s display as
a foundation for the case, which adds substantial
weight/credibility to the expert’s testimony.
Certain
circumstances require videotape animation to replace
or supplement poster displays. Computer animation
is typically used to recreate real-time auto accidents,
show complex plant piping and processes, as well
as demonstrate the internal workings of complex
machinery, anatomy, or physiological functions.
Computer animation can be integrated with actual
video footage to substantiate the integrity of
the data used to produce the animation.
Bison
developed a cost-effective proprietary animation
system called Crash TraX, which efficiently animates
vehicle accidents by incorporating the principles
of speed, distance, and acceleration to determine
the position and rotation of each vehicle to an
accuracy of 1/30th of a second. Impacts, accelerations,
decelerations, rotations, and tractor-trailer
off-tracking are incorporated into the animation.
The
rule of thumb used to determine what type of graphics
(if any) an expert’s presentation requires
is simple…if their opinions cannot
be expressed verbally in an easy-to-understand
method, poster size displays will be of benefit.
If the number of displays required to present
that opinion or idea is large, videotape animation
may be required.
Bison
. . . its pictures are worth a thousand words
and save thousands of dollars.
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