Obama PDF Explained - Linked elements, transform + rotation history, clipping masks

[redemption6209]

You have misinformation in this video.

You say all links were scaled 24%.

The last link in the Obama BC, the green background was scaled 48%.

In addition the "background link" has been rotated the opposite way.

Funny how you left that out.....hmmm....

[nyatnagarl]

@redemption6209 So you didn't want see the big red note at 2:56 where I state that my test doc has the background scaled differently. I review the background scaling+rotation again at 5:41 onward in watch?v=hqoB7F9-wOM - also there - demonstration of reproduced different background scaling , from 12:52

You attacked me for "not explaining links" on the other video but this comment proves you already saw the explanation, so it is you who are knowingly spreading misinformation & spamming comments.

[nyatnagarl]

@redemption6209 Sionce you don't seem to understand: Obama PDF has layers scaled 48% and 24%. Test document has 24% and 12%. In both cases the one layer that has a different scaling is the background.

This is a very strong indication that a similar automatic processing has been done. In both cases you get a background scaled exactly by a factor 2 diffferently.

[buckeyeoysters]

The problem is that the original document could be forged, scanned, and optimized and now we have a digital pdf copy that we can't test the ink, handwriting, etc. Thanks subby for clearing up the clipping and layers issue.

[nyatnagarl]

As I've learned, the certificates are stored on microfiche and get replicated to the basketweave pattern security paper (the Nordyke twins cert is an example of a direct photostatic copy from microfiche, that's why it's negative). You can see the same effect (curving lines on pattern) in other certificate examples on the web.

[diligent2011]

why not just show the doc in its original form....without the inserted background?....the pattern runs parallel and yet the black lines curve

[Lurabyss]

Optimized scanned documents are consistent - not some characters in black only and some in full color. Why is the green background in full color and all overlaid text is black only? Lines on the background did not snap straight as in your explanation. They remain part of the background image and are in color. Why are some text overlays on Obama's version rotated by full 90 degrees? It makes no sense. Did Obama's graphics guy optimize only selected characters & convert them to black only? C'mon.

[nyatnagarl]

@Lurabyss Google Mixed Raster Compression and read the Clearscan documentation on the Adobe Legal professionals blog.

[havardofflint]

You say try to reproduce with experiment and it will lead to knowledge and understanding. OrangeGold1 did an experiment and showed he could forge the whole document (Making it for Godzilla) via the same method that you say was done automatically. All you are showing here is that it was indeed altered, but you "believe" it was altered automatically and only for 'good' things. Wouldn't the 'scientific' view point from this say nothing is proven and we should have an optimized electric document?

[nyatnagarl]

@havardofflint People have claimed that the Adobe effects in this PDF are "proof" that itt's a forgery with the numbers, names and dates altered from somebody else's certificate, i.e. it is "proven" that Obama stole another person's identity in order to steal the presidency. These same people therefore feel entitled to overthrow the government.

They're jumping to conclusions due to their pre-existing political beliefs. That's what I show here - different explanations are entirely possible :)

[BalmungSama0]

@havardofflint The scientific point of view would also dictate that you not make accusations without evidence. Unless he's given some reason to believe he wasn't born in America, and he has all these sources that say he was, I see no reason to keep this conspiracy going.

[Zooney1]

According to other videos on this topic some of the linked elements were not rotated just a bit (ie a couple of degrees) to get perfect alignment but were rotated 90 degrees. How woud that make sense through optimisation?

[nyatnagarl]

@Zooney1 landscape vs portrait? How does 90° make sense as a forgery? 90° is just exactly a right angle. If you rotate everything 90° you just go from sideways to right side up.

[Zooney1]

@nyatnagarl

OK but would not then every element then have to show a 90degree rotation history for the whole document to come together? Excellent video by the way and as a scientist I like your approach.

Are you aware of any inconsistencies that could not be explained by automatic software changes?

[nyatnagarl]

@Zooney1 All the lnked elements in that PDF show up with "-90°" rotation when I inspect them in llustrator.

With my reproduction BC scan I see that Adobe 9.4 "Optimize" does the layers/groups, links, rotation,scale, color+monochrome separation, clipping masks, and replacement of letters/checkboxes so that some of them are identical at the pixel level. Adobe has an explanation for that on their site. Other people ave reproduced the white halo/ghosting.

[Zooney1]

@nyatnagarl

Thanks. Well I guess either the BC is legitimate or these elements have all been left in to distract from more subtle issues. It is perhaps odd that a simple copy should have been optimised anyway?

[Zooney1]

@nyatnagarl

Thanks. Well I guess either the BC is legitimate or these elements have all been left in to distract from more subtle issues. It is perhaps odd that a simple copy should have been optimised anyway?

What this does show is how nobody believes any official line these days

[explorerhot]

1776Reborn (very tea partish) used Corel draw and found the creator of Obama BC cleaned up some black spots on one of the layers . They used a graphics program to paint each individual black pixels white leaving the dots there just changing the color to match the back ground.

[explorerhot]

In another layer it shows the green back ground layer is scanned in color, all the other layers are scanned in monochrome (black & white). If was only scanned once.. how did it scan in color and monochrome (b&w) at the same time? here’s that link /watch?v=Up62cFOtvQ4

[nyatnagarl]

@explorerhot Separating a document into color + monochrome elements and giving them clipping masks is the basic concept of MRC - google the terms "Mixed Raster Compression Xerox" and you'll get a PDF explaining it. I got the same effect in my example scans: if I optimize a grayscale document, I get a combo of grayscale + monochrome. If I optimize a color scan I get a combo of color + monochrome. Apparently MRC or a similar algorithm is used in "Optimize Scan".

[DryBONESreborn]

Uh, what about the halos around letters and smudgy stuff? :) 

[nyatnagarl]

@DryBONESreborn LOL. Other people have already reporduced that. You know, it's not like I'm being paid for this or anything. The example is buried somewhere in the comments, it's some other persons video.

[DryBONESreborn]

@nyatnagarl Thanks :)

[nyatnagarl]

@DryBONESreborn it's "eb2600" who had the halos in his video at around 3:50

[Vaekke]

Haha, finally, someone with some sense.

[MrRubyscube]

nice one!

[eb2600]

Obama's and my certificate of live birth with and without OCR

/watch?v=Lz3HHy_zOPY

I have made 3 video's of tests scans and what not with Obamas and mine papers. Just look under the description for the other videos.

[nyatnagarl]

@eb2600 What you show is by reducing the existing PDF back to JPEG and opening it in Acrobat X + performing optimization and OCR, you get layers and clipping paths. You also get selectable text (note in this video I'm doing only Optimize which is separate in Acrobat 9). So you demonstrate how Layer Groups + Clipping Paths are generated. This reinforces what is shown here.

[eb2600]

@nyatnagarl

When I did that I only got the text layer and back ground layer the way it should be.. I didn't get ton's of layers like the one from the White House.

[nyatnagarl]

@eb2600 So if we all get layers like in the Obama Cert (with clipping and all that), but we get different numbers (I got tons with my BC in Acrobat 9 without OCR, you get only 2 with Acrobat X and OCR) isn't the most likely guess that they used some software that implements MCR but is perhaps not Acrobat X? It's probably not Acrobat 9 either because the metadata mention (Mac OS X 10.6.7 Quartz PDFContext).

But what we see is that MCR produces the *kind* of layes we see, in varying numbers.

[nyatnagarl]

@eb2600 Beyond reproducing the fact of generating layer and clipping paths (plus external links/rotate+transform probably if you look for them) you can't expect to get the *exact same result*.

Here's the flow:

* Replica from microfiche hardcopied to basketweave security pattern paper. Stamped + signed by registrar.

* scanned grayscale high contrast by AP. Released as "AP version"-

* scanned color by WH. Run through Mixed Raster Compression algorithm.

[nyatnagarl]

@eb2600 cont'd (Mixed Raster Compression is also used as part of the Adobe Optimize function)

This yields the layers, clipping paths, transforms etc and by definition can create documents that mix color and black+white objects which are solid (no chromatic aberration) - read the paper by Xerox Corp., just google "mixed raster compression xerox" and you get the PDF.

This step from a color scan of the paper leads to the file we've been discussing.

[nyatnagarl]

cont'd we've been able to recognize that we can create the same kind of phenomena by using a program tah emplys MRC to sampe files.

Now if you take the WH pdf and turn it into a JPEG, first that is lossy compression and second your file is not a scan of the original paper but somehting that was already processed. So you can not expect to get the exact same result.

What you do get though are again the general effects of MRC - layer groups, clipping masks, etc

[eb2600]

@nyatnagarl

I looked up raster compression and that's just what my scanned copy does. Text layer and a background layer. Not random areas. Also, I scanned my own stuff to see if any thing would be random but nothing yet. I worked in a hospital for 2 years with the Navy and I worked in S-6 for 2 years. I have scanned thousands of documents and never seen anything like this yet.

[nyatnagarl]

@eb2600 In your video at 3:50 + i see you have the "white ghosting", you can separate out the background, but some black stuff is not in the layer of the rest of the text.

So where going from "it MUST be a forgery because there are layers" to "we get the background separation, the clipping, the layers etc etc with one click but not the right distribution of layers even though we don't know what software they used"... That kills the "MUST be a forgery".

[nyatnagarl]

For instance in my video I did get "tons of layers" (far more even than the WH PDF) with my own BC. Note that

a) I was NOTusing OCR

b) I was using Acrobat 9, not X

So what this shows is "tons of layers does not prove it MUST be a forgery" even if your attempt got exactly the right layers but not TONS of them. How do you know they used exactly the same software and settings as you? And you KNOW they didn't use your jpeg.

[eb2600]

@nyatnagarl

That's cool. I'm getting no where with you due to your political views. Thanks for the little help you did give.

[nyatnagarl]

@eb2600 LOL how does my opinion that the monetary and economic policy we've seen under Obama is an unmitigated disaster, influence this discussion?

True, Obama is only continuing the conceptual failures of earlier administrations but since the consequences were already obvious at his accession that's no excuse.

However he did get Osama which is sweet, if late.

[nyatnagarl]

@eb2600 For those asking about the green background, it turns out that you do get files on that background at least over the last decade plus as this shows: Google "snarky bytes 1963 birth certificate"

The fact that the background doesn't match the curvature of the certificate coes from the fact that the microfiche was replicated onto the security paper. (Look up microfiche in Wikipedia)

[nyatnagarl]

@eb2600 cont'd You can see the background on the AP version also, at the left side - it's mostly removed due to contrast setting but there.

The "nordyke twins" certificates (google them) do not have the basketweave pattern because they are photostats, as stated in the WND article (again see the Wikipedia article on microfiche/microforms and the ways to print/replicate from them).

Because of that, the Nordyke twins certs are also originally white text on black.

[nyatnagarl]

@eb2600 If you look at the Nordyke Twins 1961 certs you will see thte same kind of curvature at the left as in the Obama cert. That's simply from way back when the paper records where microfiched. You can also see a bit of that curvature in the 1963 cert on the "Snarky Bytes" blog.

So if the Nordyke certs were also replicated to Green Basketweave Pattern security paper you would clearly get the same effect of the pattern not following the curvature in the cert.

[michaelhtvr]

2 SITES TO CHECK:

1) Attorney Mario Apuzzo's site at puzo1 blogspot com. Click on the link at the right entitled "NATURAL BORN CITIZENSHIP REQUIRES BOTH PARENTS TO BE U.S. CITIZENS" at puzo1.blogspot.com 2009 09 natural-born-citizen-clause-re­quires html

2) Several articles on WorldNetDaily at wnd com under “Is Obama constitutionally eligible to serve?”

Use Google com to get the full web addresses.

[michaelhtvr]

To be the President of the USA, the Constitution of the USA indicates that he must be "a natural born citizen". To be a natural born citizen, he MUST meet 2 conditions:

1) he must be born in the USA. EXPERTS MUST CHECK THE ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE!

2) he must be born of two American parents! Obama's father was NEVER an American!

BOTH conditions are required!

Hence, Obama is NOT a natural born citizen and is NOT eligible to be President of the USA!

-Apuzzo site at puzo1 blogspot com

-wnd com

[ScottRobisonUS]

RE PDF vs image: Many people scan single page documents to PDF. It may be a waste of effort, but there are technologically unsophisticated people that don't realize that.

Another (now less likely) possibility for the multi layer PDF would be Hawaii using software that programmatically builds an official digital PDF version of a long form birth certificate out of multiple scanned analog components.

I'm no fan of Obama, but there are plenty of good reasons to oppose him. We don't need this PDF.

[onecooldan]

THANK YOU for this video.  I'm a big-time Illustrator user but I've never used links, so when questions about Obama's birth certificate steered towards links, I was at a lack of knowledge. I googled it and didn't find anything useful until I found your video. Thanks, and let's hope people develop some REAL criticisms instead of this false tail-chasing.

[synestheticmonotony]

What rotational values were you getting in your experiment?

[nyatnagarl]

@synestheticmonotony mostly low values - you can see that when the "optimize" straightens the images. My guess is that an exact 90° value means there's an information present of whether the doc is landscape or portrait oriented. There's a video out there were someone shows that the orientation is saved in the BC PDF, i think that was done with coreldraw.

[Starfires]

Very interesting, the conspiracy theorists had me for a second until I saw this one.

[thinkofwhy]

If I wanted to distract attention away from forged data on a form, I would deliberately make the structure of the document controversial. And when the structure is later validated it would overshadow any data irregularity enough to completely deflect the issue.

[cobra60six]

It seems pretty evident that this is a legit product of Adobe scanning software, however, the Whitehouse should have just scanned the original as a jpg, tiff, bmp etc with no enhancment at all. Releasing a pdf like this was bound to cause trouble. Of course, while this process makes perfect sense and may well be genuine, it still doesn't prove or disprove tampering. Tampering could still have taken place extraneously to this process.

[zerotolerance4u]

First you said you created a B&W bitmap. Then you said the scanner software "picked up different color elements." ???

[nyatnagarl]

@zerotolerance4u I created a Grayscale (8-bit) document. To be precise I guess I should have said it picked up different "levels" (lighter gray vs black)

B&W Bitmap would be 1-bit (either black or white)

Grayscale is usually 8-bit (256 options, 0=black, 255=white, in between 254 shades of gray)

[synestheticmonotony]

@nyatnagarl The layer thing isn't what bothered me, it was that the doc is in both raster and vector. I would have thought that a raster->vector conversion would have rendered all of the lines for the boxes into vector, but it didn't. Also, the "B" in Jr's last name is exactly identical to the "B" in his father's last name, which is entirely unlikely after a raster->vector conversion. Sure, raster->vector conversion is hit or miss, but it shouldn't have missed straight lines.

[nyatnagarl]

*** NOTICE *****

I WILL remove Insulting comments as I please. Keep it civil.

[nyatnagarl]

@random331 Dear random see the comments by Juniversal who has some interesting input on the background.

The '"assurance" of anything comes from the certification of the State Registrar that a valid copy was made. Take it up with him. The PDF is just a way of publishing the record of that statement of the registrar.

[altoinu]

@random331 Thank you very much for proving my point.

[JoeyRec]

This is bullshit, you would not be affecting a scan for any reason if you were trying to show its validity. You wouldnt scan a PDF if you werent doing multiple pages anyway, and there is no reason to be using acrobat or any other adobe program a simple scan would be the norm, this is utter nonsense I do design/photoshop work. People are in denial here.

[nyatnagarl]

@JoeyRec You can't show a scan's validity. Only a certified copy can do that, that's what the State Registrar is for.

[altoinu]

@random331 You do realize that these days softwares that can edit contents are available for pretty much every file types out there, right? Does that mean all digital data are not legitimate? Yes PDFs can be edited, but in a sense this video shows that there is no concrete evidence of intentional tampering. Let's not try to set up a witch trial.

[random331]

@altoinu

This debunker himself wrote, "The green background was OBVIOUSLY put in," ... I put OBVIOUSLY in caps for emphasis, but that's exactly what he wrote. Did you read what he wrote? Can you THINK for 5 seconds? A fake background means a fake foreground ... don't you get it? You can't half-fake a document and call it legitimate. You don't tweak official documents to make them "cool" like this moron thinks. He admits it was tampered and then drinks the cool-aid anyhow! Ludicrous.

[altoinu]

@random331 I'm sorry, I did think for more than 5sec but still don't get when you say "A fake background means a fake foreground." Yes green is obviously put in, but are you saying that a document all the sudden becomes illegitimate just because someone did something simple to make it more readable? Can you explain how this could be the case? Ostrich is a bird therefore it can fly? No proof of this "foreground" being tampered exists. I guess to you some things are guilty until proven innocent.

[pouncingcat]

Nice work. Are the text layers monochrome and jagged, like in the Obama PDF?

[codediporpal]

Could you try doing this on the obama "short form" certificate available on line?

I tried to convince Karl Denninger of this video at watch?v=2eOfYwYyS_c but he blocked me, and deleted my links to this video. I guess he didn't want to hear it.

watch?v=2eOfYwYyS_c

[flameblitz]

You need a medal from Obama!

Obama is SAVED!

[wetweasel56]

I know this is very off topic but everyone please look into the bill: HR1489. Obama is planning to veto it. To put it simply, it directly ties Obama to the big banks if he vetos this bill!

The media is hiding this and it needs to get out to everyone. Please help me pass the word.

[biglogonafrog]

Thanks man clears up so much, how people can dislike your video is beyond me... Like you said they only want to see what fits into their already distorted reality

[TheJeffduff]

Now change the color of the text inside illustrator. You can't. But you can in the Birth certificate.

[OlgaEsperanzaNdjamen]

@TheJeffduff How do you know I can't? Just because it's not in this video?

[nyatnagarl]

@TheJeffduff Could you show exactly which elements you change with which tools, in a way that other people can try out? Then I would try the same tools on similar objects of the demo file.

[lgtbyddrk]

very interesting... ty for the upload

[tocardx]

Thank you for your good work.

[wetweasel56]

If you put it in Adobe illustrator you can then change it, right? You can take out parts and put in new text?

What makes yo think the Obama BC didn't have that done?

[nyatnagarl]

@wetweasel56 The green background was obviously put in.

There's NO POINT in doing anything with the PDF because the only thing that counts is the certification from the State Registrar. The Whitehouse.gov site might as well put up a PDF that says in Comic Sans "Obama has a BC neenerneener." What I'm showing is that people who say because of these optimization effects "it was faked" are wrong. more likely, it was scanned, "optimized", somebody dumped the "cool" background in, and uploaded.

[Juniversal]

@nyatnagarl....not sure about that. The background is a security paper pattern (the standard paper birth certificates are printed on). I believe the BC was scanned, the scanned image was then transferred and printed on a piece of security paper and then that paper with the scanned image was stamped.

The reason the background drops out is likely related to the software compression technique separating what it sees as text and what it see's as background material into separate layers.

[nyatnagarl]

@Juniversal you're right.

Since the curvature of the reproduced cert doesn't fit the pattern of the background (which is uncurved) the cert must have been reproduced separately. But the background was probably not pasted into the PDF, instead the reproduction of the cert was printed on that paper, stamped, and this stamped paper is the document that was scanned and published. Otherwise the background should be completely its own layer which it isn't

[Juniversal]

@nyatnagarl...yea that befuddled me initially but I figured that was the most logical explanation. That or the original scanned image was printed on white paper (i.e. the photocopy released by the AP) and that black and white image was printed on security paper, scanned and converted to PDF and that's what the white house released.

[Juniversal]

@nyatnagarl...yea that befuddled me initially but I figured that was the most logical explanation. That or the original scanned image was printed on white paper (i.e. the photocopy released by the AP) and that black and white image was printed on security paper, scanned and converted to PDF and that's what the white house released.

[codediporpal]

@nyatnagarl The security background was in the document issued by the Registrar. The archived record was a printed from microfilm onto a security background paper then signed by the registrar. You can see the security pattern (barely) in the black and white scan done by the Associated Press.

[SmalltimR]

@wetweasel56

Anything is possible.

But this is to show how terrible the flood of so called expert opinions really are.

All anyone had to do, was to replicate the PDF properties to get the bottom of it.

[dasdanarthur]

Very informative, thanks.