posted on Jul, 19 2008 @ 07:34 PM
OK, I know the software and the history of this photo.
It's a shot of a young guy, manipulated by a precursor of
Alien Skin Software and a plug in called
'Eye Candy' Kai's Power Goo, (see below) and other software that started out as standalone photo tweaking software, and eventually became
incorporated into Photoshop as a plug in.
The original software which came out around the time of Windows 3.1 and Windows95 had two large windows and a rounded cutesy looking interface and was
one of the first that used that motif instead of the square windows that we normally see. (the name of the precursor escapes me but it's something
cute like the Eye candy name).
Anyway everyone was downloading copies of this software which was the first to use the 'loop' tool, which was a large round circle which would
'grab' a portion of the edge and center of a feature and let you deform it. We all played around with photos giving people big foreheads and small
chins and big eyes. It was great. I think the time was the early 90s.
So, no, this is no a 'real alien', but a leftover tweak from that software and over time people forgot the origins.
I do not know who the guy is, but it doesn't matter. The hints that it was done like that is the smooth skin and lack of surface detail which got
lost in the dragging process.
HTH.
OK, found the name.
Kai's Power Tools KPT. One of the first, and as I said, a lot of fun
to play with. I think the specific one was called 'Goo'. (see the wiki link).
Wiki from above link:
The KPT Goo filter is used to produce a single frame freeform liquid distortion. This filter is available both with KPT 6 and the
standalone version. It works by effectively turning a bitmap image into a liquid that can be interactively smeared, smudged, twirled, and pinched with
the range of tools on offer. The obvious use is to distort photographic portraits into caricatures.
(bolding mine)
Here's an example of the original standalone software:
[edit on 19-7-2008 by Badge01]