How do xenomorphs see?

[DEATHGRIND]

A guy friend of mine brought this up somewhere else ... since xenomorphs don't have eyes how do they see?

The only thing I can think of is sensors (like some reptiles have). 

[Huol]

Phermones, apparantly.
Although in alien 3 we get the runners POV.

[Munkeywrench]

Someone on here mentioned ultrasonics or sonar kinda like bats

[SM]

They have a visual organ, which we see in Alien3.

Pheromones, sonar - all fan fic.

They - at the very least - use light like we do.  Though their preference for darkness would suggest they can see better without light than we can.  And what's more it suggests they know we can't see real good in the dark.

[arachnophilia]

Someone on here mentioned ultrasonics or sonar kinda like bats

the one in the first movie has a particular sound associated with it, a kind of high-pitched snarl. it's possibly that's how they see.

they also appear to communicate somehow (in aliens, the queen tells the workers to back off). aliens: labyrinth suggests they are highly telepathic. maybe they don't need to see

They have a visual organ, which we see in Alien3.

eh. not neccessarily. movies have to be depicted in ways we can see and understanding, and showing non-visual senses is kind of hard.

[SM]

Yes necessarily.  The film shows us the Aliens POV - therefore that's the Aliens POV.

Doesn't preclude other 'vision modes' or other senses, but in a normal lit environment - that's what they see.

[arachnophilia]

Yes necessarily.  The film shows us the Aliens POV - therefore that's the Aliens POV.

no, it's what you get if you mounted a camera to the alien. cameras record visible light, somewhat objectively. i'm a photographer myself, and i'm happy to report that my camera does not accurately report how i see. vision is far, far more subjective than photography.

and in any case, supposing the alien saw in SONAR, how would you visually represent that?

[SM]

The Alien emits a sound as the sound hits an object we see it in it's POV.  Not terribly difficult.

i'm a photographer myself

I'd give the serious consideration if in fact you'd worked on Alien3.

[Kimarhi]

You make SM angry!

[SM]

And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

Grrrr...

[arachnophilia]

The Alien emits a sound as the sound hits an object we see it in it's POV.  Not terribly difficult.

like in daredevil? remember the CG alien in that movie was the most advanced CG of the time, and a lot of people here will tell you it looks pretty crappy.

[SM]

There could've been other photochemical ways to achieve a given effect if they'd had the inclination.  There's never been any suggestion they wanted anything different to what they eventually achieved.

[arachnophilia]

There could've been other photochemical ways to achieve a given effect if they'd had the inclination.  There's never been any suggestion they wanted anything different to what they eventually achieved.

i'm just saying, you're thinking about it way too literally. there's no real reason to read it as "this is precisely how an alien sees." it's a point of view shot, which places the audience in the place of the alien. the audience sees with their eyes -- the alien does not have eyes to the best of anyone's knowledge. though the original alien had two empty eye-sockets at the front of its skull, under the dome.

[SM]

there's no real reason to read it as "this is precisely how an alien sees."

Other than that's how they portrayed it in the film.  Which is good enough for me.  Not really any need to read more into it than one needs to.

Besides I never used the word "precisely" to whit...

"Doesn't preclude other 'vision modes' or other senses, but in a normal lit environment - that's what they see."

[arachnophilia]

Other than that's how they portrayed it in the film.  Which is good enough for me.  Not really any need to read more into it than one needs to.

my point is that there are different levels of POV shots, some entirely subjective, others less so. there are also "near-POV" shots.

we're also given similar views in the AvP video games. i don't think it needs that much read into it.

"Doesn't preclude other 'vision modes' or other senses, but in a normal lit environment - that's what they see."

well, where are their complex light-sensing organs?