VP8 Image Analyzer

The VP8 Image Analyzer is an analog computer produced by Pete Schumacher of Interpretation Systems Incorporated (ISI) in 1972. It has been used to image the Shroud of Turin.[1] The VP8 makes a brightness map of whatever data it processes - white appears to be higher in elevation, black appears lower and mid-range appears between these two extremes.[2][3]

When the device was used with photographs or paintings, the result was a distorted and inaccurate representation of the original image. However, the Shroud image produced an accurate three-dimensional representation of the Man of the Shroud, with facial features, arms, legs and chest all contoured correctly. This was shown to Peter Schumacher, the inventor of the device, and he later recalled his astonishment:

"I had never heard of the Shroud of Turin before that moment. I had no idea what I was looking at. However, the results are unlike anything I have processed through the VP-8 Analyzer, before or since. Only the Shroud of Turin has produced these results from a VP-8 Image Analyzer isometric projection study."[4]

Other applications

Energy and mineral resource exploration

The Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute used the VP-8 Image Analyzer from 1973 to 1977 to make profile maps of "several geological areas in Mississippi" to explore possible sites for mineral or petroleum reserves. Using isometric profiling from the VP-8 unit, scientists from the Institute analyzed LANDSAT images of "several geologic areas in Mississippi," which supported findings of the production unit of Amoco that the area of Possumneck, Mississippi contains a large anticline, a potential significant reserve of oil and natural gas.[5]

Forestry resource management

Scientists at the University of Minnesota, using a NASA grant in 1973, were able to use the VP-8 Image Analyzer to create density slices from infrared aerial photos from the Chippewa National Forest region. The goal was to better predict areas likely to have aquatic vegetation, which define peatlands. These areas lessen the severity of floods. By identifying these areas, they can potentially be buttressed and preserved by "biological treatment of "secondary effluent."[6]

The VP-8 did not perform as well as anticipated in the study, failing to provide information that had not already been gleaned from the filtered infrared images. The reason was cited as "electronic drift" caused by a malfunction of the device itself. The study authors suggested the device probably needed "additional adjustment by the manufacturer.": p. 30 [6]

The NASA Skylab program attempted to use the VP-8 Image Analyzer for more precise measurement of timber resources from returned Earth images from space, to better inventory forested areas in the Trinity Alps of northern California. Here again, the VP-8 Image Analyzer experienced "many electrical and other engineering problems" and the imagery was unable to be used.[7]

References

  1. ^ Heller, John H. Report on the Shroud of Turin. Houghton Mifflin, 1983. ISBN 0-395-33967-7 page 207 "It is only when actual depth or remoteness is manifest by less light that the VP-8 can produce an authentic 3-D picture." (Dr. Heller is not an expert on the VP8 but a blood chemist.)
  2. ^ Bernard Ruffin, 1999, The Shroud of Turin ISBN 0-87973-617-8 page 79
  3. ^ Heller, John H. Report on the Shroud of Turin. Houghton Mifflin, 1983. ISBN 0-395-33967-7 page 207
  4. ^ The Shroud, ISBN 9780593063590 by Ian Wilson p. 22
  5. ^ Minshew, Velon H.; Lee, Tsean-shu (June 1980). "Structural Evaluation of Selected Areas in Mississippi Utilizing Landsat imagery". Oxford, Mississippi: Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute, Univ. Miss. p. 8, 10. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
  6. ^ a b Personnel of the Institute of Agriculture Remote Sensing Laboratory (July 1973). "Remote Sensing Applications in Agriculture and Forestry" (PDF). Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota. p. 23. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
  7. ^ Philip G. Langley, Earth Satellite Corporation (EarthSat) (31 March 1974). Forbes, Clayton (ed.). "Evaluation of Usefulness of Skylab EREP S-190 and S-192 Imagery in Multistage Forest Surveys" (PDF). Earth Resources Survey Program Investigations. NAS 9-13289. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas: NASA: 5, 8. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
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