看板Disney
標 題電腦特效里程碑歷史年表
發信站中央情報局 (Fri Mar 1 18:03:08 2002)
轉信站Ptt!news.ntu!news.mcu!news.cs.nthu!News.Math.NCTU!cia.hinet.net!CIA
迪士尼也佔有一席地位,各位有興趣的話,合力把它翻譯出來吧
,裡面有很多電腦專業術語,CCHO可否幫忙
History of Computer Graphics (CG)
Milestones in Computer Graphics
CG was first created as a visualization tool for scientists in University
and government research centers in the 1950s, 60s and 70s at places such
as Bell Labs, Ohio State University, University of Utah, Cornell, North
Carolina and the New York Institute of Technology to name just a few...
The early breakthroughs that took place in academic centers continued at
research centers such as the famous Xerox PARC in the 1970Os. These
efforts broke first into broadcast video graphics and then major motion
pictures in the very late 70Os and early 1980Os. The field of computer
graphic research continues today around the world, and are now joined
by the research and development departments of entertainment and production
companies. Companies such as George LucasOs Industrial Light and Magic
are constantly redefining the cutting edge of computer graphic technology.
1940s
The very first "computer assisted" graphics began in many different
unrelated fields around the world.
The very first radiosity image. While at MIT, Professors Moon and Spencer
were using their field of applied mathematics to calculate highly accurate
global lighting models that they called "interflection reflection". The image
itself was created by painstakingly selecting Munsel paper samples that matched
the output data of their mathematical model. The paper was cut out and
ironed together by hand to create the image shown here in print for the first
time in over 50 years.
(The original image is still hanging in the office of Dr. Domina Spencer,
University of Connecticut.)
It was first presented at the 1946 National Technical Conference of the
Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and published two years
later (in color) in the book: Lighting Design by Moon, P., and D. E. Spencer.
1948. (Addison-Wesley. Cambridge, MA) The book was used for many
years to teach lighting theory at MIT in the architecture curriculum there.
Dr. Spencer went on to teach at Tufts, Brown, Rhode Island School of
Design, and the University of Connecticut where she remains active today.
1950s
John Whitney Sr. devises his own computer assisted mechanisms to create
some of his graphic artwork and short films. -see sidebar
Pioneering artists Stan VanderBeck, Ken Knowlton, Michael Noll and others
at Bell Labs in New Jersey created computer assisted graphics using analog
computer devices and plotter output. Later, in the mid 1960s, digital
computers and film recorders would be used.
Bill Fetter experimented with early vector graphic CAD at Boeing (Seattle) in
the late l950s using an IBM 7094 computer with punch card input and a
Gerber plotter.
1950
Artist Ben Laposky uses analog computers to help him create oscilloscope
artwork.
1951
Vectorscope-type graphics display on the Whirlwind computer at MIT. A
device similar to a light pen allowed direct input to the screen.
1955
SAGE system at Lincoln Lab uses first light pen (Bert Sutherland)
1956
Lawrence Livermore National Labs connects graphics display to IBM 704;
1957
1st image-processed photo at National Bureau of Standards.
The IBM 740-780 (paired with a separate IBM 704 computer system)
generated a sequence of points on a CRT in order to represent lines or
shapes. Time lapse film photography was used to capture the images as
they were drawn on the screen.
1958
MITOs Lincoln Labs: Funded by the Air Force, Steven Coons, Ivan
Sutherland, and Timothy Johnson begin working with the TX-2 computer
system to manipulate drawn pictures. Ivan Sutherland later began refining
the work into his famous Sketchpad system while a student at MIT. DEC
later commercialized the TX-2 as the PDP-6.
1959
First film recorder - General Dynamics Stromberg Carlson 4020
1959
DAC-1 (Design Augmented by Computers): First computer aided drawing
system. Created by Don Hart and Ed Jacks at General Motors Research
Conference in Detroit in 1964.)
1960's
"Computer assisted graphics" were being created as a new and unique
art-form by people such as Charles Csuri, Ken Knowlton and John Whitley
Sr.
Many pioneering artistic films were created at Bell Labs from about 1963 to
1967 by artists and programmers such as E.E.Zajac, Kenneth C. Knowlton,
A.M. Noll, Lilian Shwartz, and Stan Vanderbeek. An IBM 7094 computer ran
a Stromberg-Calson 4020 film recorder, programmed in FORTRAN to run
Ken Knowltons Beflix animation system
The very first computer graphics company was formed in 1968 by two of the
leading researchers of the day, Drs. David C. Evans and Ivan E. Sutherland.
Aptly named Evans & Sutherland, it provided a system comprised of custom
designed hardware and software previously available only to one of a kind,
multi million dollar military sites.
Herb Freeman had a school of CG development going on at NYU including
Alvy Ray Smith in his first professor's job out of Stanford in 1969. Freeman
and his students had already solved the hidden-line problem, a very big deal
at the time.
Nicholas Negroponte teaches Computer Aided Design (CAD) at M.I.T in the
mid to late 60s, and develops the URBAN5 system. A light pen allows
interaction directly on the CRT, in combination with keyboard instructions.
Points and symbols are added in orthographic mode with a perspective
option entered after the fact in order to view structures three-dimensionally.
An "intelligent" system study, URBAN5 was abandoned by 1968 in favor of
other projects.
Ohio State info.
University of Utah: Ed Catmull, Frank Crow, Fred Parke, Jim Blinn, Jim Clark,
Lance Williams, Garland Stern, Ron Resch, Alan Kay, John Warnock, Patrick
Baudelaire, Jim Kajiya, Christy Barton, Gary Watkins and lots of others.
"The Society for Information Displays" is formed in the early 60s, publishing
papers dealing mostly with military applications.
At this same time, practical commercial and industrial use of computer
graphics begins to take hold in many areas of design and manufacturing.
Throughout the decade at Boeing, Robert Woodruff (Computing Technology
Administrator) leads many important industrial applications of vector
generated CG.
Architectural and urban planning programs (typically written in FORTRAN on
machines like the IBM 1130 or 1800) are used at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
in Chicago and in the University of Texas School of Architecture. A sample
workstation would consist of a Rand tablet providing input, with output to
pen plotters such as the Calcomp.
In the late 60s, the Electronics Laboratory of General Electric (Syracuse, NY)
produces a prototype visualization system for NASA and the Office of Naval
Research. The system produced real-time color raster graphics on a monitor
as a training aid to astronauts going to land on the moon. This same system
was used by Prof. Peter Kamnitzer of the UCLA School of Architecture and
Urban Planning to simulate urban development plans.
1960
William Fetter of Boeing coins the term "computer graphics" for his human
factors cockpit drawings.
John Whitney Sr. founds Motion Graphics, Inc.
1961/62
Spacewar: The first ever computer graphic video game written by students
Steve Russell, Slug Russell, Shag Graetz, and Alan Kotok of MIT to run on
the DEC PDP-1. (DEC's PDP-1 cost $120,000 and MITOs was one of only 50
ever built) The large round CRT display featured graphics controlled by
primitive handmade joysticks. The object being to maneuver away from a
gravitational "sun" force at the center, and avoid the other enemy ships,
while trying to blast him with your own space torpedoes!
The original source code (which ran on 4k of memory!) can still be found at
www.media.mit.edu/groups/el/projects/spacewar/sources
or ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/sim/sources/sim_2.3d.tar.Z
There's also a copy of the PDP-1 manual at
www.dbit.com/~greeng3/pdp1/pdp1.html
1963
"Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System" is
presented by Ivan Sutherland as his Ph.D. thesis at MIT. The user could
input simple lines and curves by drawing directly on the screen with a light
pen. The computer, the TX-2, had a whopping 320 kilobytes of memory and
a 9 inch monochromatic CRT.
Charles Csuri created an analogue computer and used it to make
transformations of a drawing. He completed a series of drawings based upon
the paintings of old masters such as Durer, Goya, Ingres, Klee, Mondrian
and Picasso
Kenneth Knowlton's programs BEFLIX and EXPLOR are used to create early
computer films at Bell Telephone Labs.
1st computer art competition, sponsored by Computers and Automation
magazine.
The Spring Joint Computer Conference has several people from MIT
presenting papers on graphical display technology: Steven Coons, Ivan
Sutherland, Tim Johnson, Bob Stotz, Doug Ross and Jorge Rodriquez.
Edgar Horwood developed a computer graphic mapping system used by the
U.S. Housing and Urban Development. HUD publishes "Using Computer
Graphics in Community Renewal"
Frieder Nake at The Computer Institute of the Stuttgart Polytechnic uses the
Graphomat Zuse Z 64 Drawing machine to produce 4 color plotter drawings.
1965
Dr. David Evans founds the Computer Science Department at University of
Utah.
Ohio State University CG program started by Charles Csuri.
1st computer art exhibition, at Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart
1st U.S. computer art exhibition, at Howard Wise Gallery in New York
196?
First commercially available graphics computer: IBM 2250 (When was the
DEC 338??)
1966
"Odyssey": The first consumer computer graphics games product by Ralph
Baer of Sanders Associates. Later marketed at Magnavox.
Permutations: With a grant from IBM and a Fortran programmer named Jack
Citron(sp?), John Whitney Sr. made the first digital computer short film. An
IBM 2250 Graphic Display Console created dot patterns which were then
recorded onto black and white 35mm film. The filmed images were then
further enhanced with a specially designed optical printer to add secondary
motion and color.
As Associate Professor at Harvard, Ivan Sutherland and his student, Bob
Sproull, took earlier "Remote Reality" vision systems of the Bell Helicopter
project, and turned it into "Virtual Reality" by replacing the camera with
computer images. The first such computer environment was no more than a
wire-frame room with the cardinal directions -- North, South, East, and West
initialed on the walls. The viewer could "enter" the room by way of the West
door, and turn to look out windows in the other three directions.
Affectionately called "The Sword of Damocles" because of its ceiling
mounted gear, what they called the "Head-Mounted Display," later became
known as Virtual Reality.
1967
Cornell University's School of Architecture by Donald Greenberg.
2D morphing techniques used were started by Les Mezei at the University of
Toronto
MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies founded by Gyorgy Kepes
The Computer Technique Group in Tokyo Japan is funded at the IBM
Scientific Data Center. Engineers and designers create many beautiful and
varied computer graphic art pieces, using image processing and geometric
transformation. Members include Koji Fujino, Junichiro Kakizaki, Masao
Komura, Fujio Niwa, Makoto Ohtake, Haruki Tsuchiya, and Kunio Yamanaka.
1968
Cybernetic Serendipity: The Computer and the Arts exhibition at London
Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)
The UK's Computer Arts Society (CAS) is founded by John Lansdown at the
Royal College of Art.
The EVENT ONE computer art exhibition is held at the Royal College of Art.
The first computer animation in the UK was the FLEXIPEDE made by Tony
Pritchett. Made at the Open University.
Several computer art publications are available in Europe including Bit
International out of Zagreb, and Page by the London Art Society, a monthly
magazine which actually lasted until the mid 80s.
Ivan Sutherland joins the Computer Science Department at University of
Utah
Evans & Sutherland (E&S) company founded by Dave Evans and Ivan
Sutherland.
Chuck Csuri's short film Hummingbird is purchased by Museum of Modern
Art for permanent collection. (See Animation Chapter for more details.)
Dicomed is founded as a manufacturer of hardware and software products to
apply computer graphic technology to the field of radiology by scanning
x-ray films, converting the information into digital data, enhancing it and
redisplaying the processed image. (From their web site at
www.dicomed.com ). Still in business 30 years later, providing professional
high resolution digital image capturing technologies.
Bill Fetter contributed to the first (vector based) computer generated
television commercial in 1968 while at Boeing.
1969
Edward Zajec begins a long career of fine art aided by the computer,
creating plotter output works using an IBM 60/20 at Carlton Collage in
Minnisota. He would later spend 10 years as an Artis-In-Residence at the
University of Triese in Italy. He returned to the united states to Syracuse
University in 1980 to reinvigorate the CG program there which had begun in
the early 70s.
http://web.syr.edu/~ezajec/ez-plain.html
The first major public Computer Art show is held in London. Cybernetic
Serendipity also publishes a book of the same name.
LDS-1 (Line Drawing System). The first commercial CAD wireframe graphics
machine system released by E&S. Incorporated hardware design from Garry
Watkins, designed input by Chuck Seitz (University of Utah faculty 1970-73),
Bob Shumaker and others.
John Warnok (University of Utah Ph.D. 1969) Developed the Warnock
recursive subdivision algorithm for hidden surface elimination.
Alan Kay (University of Utah Ph.D. 1969 ) Further developed the notion of a
graphical user interface with the Alto project at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto, CA),
which directly influenced the design of Apple MacIntosh computers.
Bell Labs developed the first frame buffer for storing and displaying 3bit
images.
Gary Demos first becomes acquainted with computer assisted graphics with
John Whitney Sr. at Cal Tech in California. An IBM 2250 ran a custom
operating system, images where photographed in Ektachrome and printed
on Kodachrome.
1970's
Academic research in computer graphics was at the time led by places like
the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) Computer Graphics Lab
founded in 1974 by Alex Shure. Ed Catmull and Malcolm Blanchard (both
from U.Utah) started the program and were soon joined by Alvy Ray Smith
and David DiFrancesco, both fresh from Xerox PARC. Jim Blinn and Jim Clark
were there briefly, as were Lance Williams and Garland Stern and many
others.
Much of the nation-wide university research conducted at the time was due
in part to funding from the governmentOs "Advanced Research Project
Agency" (ARPA). ARPA at the time took a very hands-off approach to funding.
This allowed researchers an un-pressured environment in which to
concentrate on the work, not the heavy bureaucracy, paperwork and
political constraints more common today. Much to the benefit of researches
was Ivan Sutherland who headed ARPA for a time. With good funding, little
oversight and many brilliant young minds inspiring each other, it was a
unique and special time that produced the very foundation of todayOs
computer graphic tool sets.
Widespread commercial use of this early technology did not begin until the
1970Os when early pioneers saw the potential in the broadcast video market
for the new creative tools. Companies like Image West, Dolphin Productions
(New York, President Alan Stanley) and Computer Image Corp (Denver,
President Lee Harrison) used these realtime computer assisted video
graphics machines to introduce new imagery to both broadcast clients and
the viewers at home.
[BIO SNIP] Lee Harrison, the inventor of analog video-based computer
animation was the founder of Computer Image Corporation(1969) in Denver,
CO.; where the (ANIMAC?), Scanimate, C.A.E.S.A.R., and System IV analog
animation devices were developed. Won an Emmy for SCANIMATE in 1972.
Relatively affordable frame buffers became available in the mid to late 70Os
which opened up the commercial market for true CG production. The input
for these earliest machines were banks of patch wires or punch cards, very
different from today's mouse and graphic interfaces.
These first million dollar commercial machines were capable of only limited,
video resolution rater based graphics. Output was limited in most cases to
videotaping or filming monitor screens, but they introduced the public at
large to the new art form of computer graphics. By the end of the decade affordable raster technology far out paced the vector graphic mainstay.
Michael Noll arranges some of the first public gallery showings of computer
generated art in the United States.
Pioneering work done by James F. Blinn at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
in Pasadena California (started in 1975 by Bob Holzman). David Em (who
would work with Alvy Ray Smith at Xerox PARC on Dick Shoup's Superpaint
system in about 1974 or so) also later joined Jim at JPL to create some of the
early serious computer art in raster form.
Nelson Max at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories uses CG to
illustrate basic biologic research; the first "scientific visualizations".
1971
Gary Demos visits NASA AMES and Evans & Sutherland while researching a
documentary film about computers for "Dimension Films" in LA. It is there
that he first meets Ivan Sutherland and expresses his ambitious desire to
create complex and realistic high resolution CG images for films. (Gary is
only about 21 years old at the time!) Since most of the hardware and
software technology that would make this possible does not yet exists, Gary
joins E&S to begin to create these missing pieces. John Warnock ran the San
Jose E&S office before going to NYIT, and Ivan himself was working on his
own hidden surface solutions at the time. Gary helped develop a high
precision "data table" (table not tablet because it was 4 feet by 5 feet)
accurate to 100th of an inch for digitizing images. The table used two pens
to define two simultaneous points in 3D space. Programming was done in
assembly code on a PDP-11 with a Picture System 1 for vector display.
Both Henry Gouroug and Bui Toi Phong worked on shading at E&S, so that
area was well covered needless to say. Gary and the E&S team next tackled
the challenge of building the first ever random access frame buffer. They
began with the first 8 DRAM chips every produced, which came from a
company in Texas called Mostek(sp?).
1972
PONG developed by Nolan Bushnell. (Later founder of Atari)
First feature film appearance of CG: West World. A "block pix" scene done at
Information International Inc. (III; aka "Triple I") Led by John Whitney Jr.,
digitally processed film was used to portray a pixelated android point of
view.
1973
The first ACM/SIGGRAPH conference held in ??. Just over 1000 attendees.
Edwin Catmull (Ph.D. 1974 University of Utah) develops both the Z-buffer
algorithm and the concept of texture mapping in 1973-74. (Texture
mapping techniques were later refined by Catmull, Alvy Ray Smith, Tom
Duff, Lance Williams, and Paul Heckbert at NYIT.
First physical structure designed entirely with computer-aided geometric
modeling software: A large Easter egg which is still standing in Vegreville,
Alberta, Canada. "The Easter Egg Capitol of the World". By Ronald Resch,
pioneer in the field of computer art, and member of the Computer Science
Faculty at University of Utah from 1970-1979. The programmer that worked
with Resch was Robert McDermott who got his PhD from the work at U. of
Utah).
Frank Crow (University of Utah Ph.D. 1975) Developed anti-aliasing
methods for edge smoothing.
1974
New York Institute of Technology
In 1974 Alex Schure, a wealthy entrepreneur, began to assemble the
Computer Graphics Laboratory (CGL) at the New York Institute of
Technology (NYIT). His vision was to create a feature length animated film,
with the aid of the days most sophisticated computer graphics techniques.
NYIT itself was founded by AlexOs father, whoOs grounds encompassed
numerous estates situated in the beautiful wooded hillsides of Westbury
New York. Some of these estates were owned by members of the Rockafeller
family, who also happened to have a seat on the board of Evans &
Sutherland. Because of the close association of E&S with the University of
Utah, Dave Evans recommended to Alex to seek out Edwin Catmull to head
the new CGL.
Ed Catmull had just finished his Ph.D. at Utah and taken a job at a CAD/CAM
company called Applicon. It was not a hard sell to get Ed to leave Applicon
for NYIT however, so he and fellow Utah graduate Malcolm Blanchard
packed their bags for New York. Alvy Ray Smith and David Difrancisco (fresh
from Xerox PARC) joined the team a few months later, having heard of
AlexOs plans from Martin Newall (whom Alex had just hired as a consulant
from Utah). Alex had recently come through Utah and literally ordered "one
of everything" to jump start his NYIT project. Some of this equipment
included a DEC PDP-11, a new E&S LDS-1 and the first random access frame
buffer also from E&S. Later, the CGL group would also receive the very first
commercial VAX.
[SIDEBAR] VAX ALMOST SMASHED! In fact, the VAX almost never made it
inside the building, if not for Alvy Ray SmithOs quick actions. It seems that
when the computer was just lowered off the back of the delivery truck,
another truck parked behind and uphill had itOs brakes slip, which started it
rolling towards the brand new machine. Alvy quickly jumped in the
driver-less truck and stopped it just before it could smash the VAX back into
the very truck it was just unloaded from.
The CGL quickly attracted other technology experts and artists, including
Tom Duff, Lance Williams, Fred Parke, Garland Stern, Ralph Guggenheim,
Ed Emshwiller, and many others.
Throughout the 1970s, the people of the CGL thrived in a pioneering spirit,
creating milestones in many areas of graphic software. The atmosphere at
the CGL was also very open, with many invited tours coming through the lab
all year-round. Other universities like Cornell, and companies such as
Quantel were among those to visit and take notes about what was being
developed.
Ed CatmullOs Tween, Alvy Ray SmithOs Paint program, and the 2D
animation program SoftCel, all were in keeping with the original charter of
the CGL, which was 2D CG. There were also many breakthroughs in image
techniques involving fractals, morphing, image compositing, and Mip-Map
texture mapping and many others. Key to this pioneering effort was the
seemingly unlimited financing evidenced by Alex Shure. One such example
took place when Alvy Ray Smith spoke with Alex about how good it might be
to have not just the one, but three frame buffers. This way, Alvy explained,
the three 8bit buffers could be combined to create the first RGB color frame
buffer ever! Sometime later Alex not only delivered the two additional frame
buffers, but an additional 3, which gave the CGL team a grand total of 6.
("Enough for two of those RGB things" said Alex.) At $60,000 each (plus the
$80,000 for the first) what this meant in todayOs dollars was that on a
simple request, Alex had just delivered about $2million worth of equipment.
More Utah people joined the CGL, including Garland Stern who would write
the vector animation system BBOP. David DiFrancisco would also begin what
would be turn out to be a long association with film recording at this time.
[SIDEBAR] TUBY THE TUBA! At this same time as the CGL was up and
running, Alex had about 100 traditional animators working on a film called
"Tuby The Tuba". Unfortunately, after two years when the film finally
screened, everyoneOs worst fears were realizedEit was worse than awful.
Several different department also existed at NYIT by now, in different
neighboring mansions; an audio group, a video/post production lab, and a
computer science department as well. One project that was successfully
completed, was a half hour video (2" with a single frame recorder) called
"Measure for Measure", which combined conventional cell animation with
TWEEN imagery.
In 1979 when Ed Catmull left to start the Computer Graphics Division at
Lucasfilm, everyone wanted to come with him. In fact, Alvy, Tom Duff, and
David DiFransisco all left and went elsewhere while waiting to join Ed in
California when the time was right. Ralph had promised to stay at NYIT a full
year, and he honored that commitment, even turning down an offer from
Alex Shure to head the CGL group so that he would be free to leave one that
year was up.
A New York City commercial office was established to market and sell the
technology developed in Westbury. Known as CGL Inc., it was home to
people such as Pat Hanrahan and Glen Maguire. Commercials included for
Volkswagon, Chevrolette and "Live From Lincoln Center" (which is still
showing today!)
[THE WORKS!] A great deal of effort at NYIT went into the development of
the film "The Works", which was written by Lance Williams. For many
reasons, including a lack of film-making expertise, it was never completed.
Sequences from the work in progress still stand as some of the most
astounding animated imagery of the time.
Phong Bui-Toung developes the Phong shading method at Utah. Later
become a professor at Stanford.
Dr. Ivan Sutherland and associate Glen Flex start a Hollywood company
called Picture Design Group with John Whitney Jr. and Gary Demos. One of
the first test they do is for a feature film proposed by Walter Films and Carl
Sagan, called "Cosmos". Using an E&SPicture System at UC San Diego
Demos began tests on one-million-star galaxy simulations. Operating on a
clunky front system that crashed every fifteen minutes, it forced him to wait
5 minutes to boot, for 5 minutes to work and 5 minutes to back up data
before the system would crash again.
They did other work for educational films, and the Museum of Science and
Industry, but after about 9 months Ivan wanted to give in favor of going
back to academia. Demos and Whitney then go to Triple-I.
1975
Hunger by Peter Foldes: "First fully animated figurative film every made
using computer techniques." (Computer Interpolation or inbetweening).
Like CsuriOs work, some of the first geometric interpolation or "Morphing"
techniques. Also "Metadata"(date?)
The venerable icon of early computer graphics, the famous "Utah Teapot" is
designed by Martin Newell at the University of Utah.
The TWEEN animation system is developed by Dr. Edwin Catmull at NYIT.
Originally written in assembler language (Ed hated Fortran), TWEEN was
re-written completely in C to run on UNIX about a year later (It took up
32megs of memory on a PDP-11). He actually renamed the program
"MO-TRUCK" for "motion trucking-thru-the-frames" but no one would use
the new nameEso TWEEN it stayed.
After 20 years of research Dr. Benoit Mandelbrot publishes his seminal paper:
"A Theory of Fractal Sets." The study of fractal geometry is revealed to the
popular press.
John Whitney Jr. and Gary Demos form the Motion Picture Project Group at
Triple-I.
1976
Future World: Gary Demos, John Whitey Jr and a team at Triple-I creates the
first feature film appearance of 3D CG; a 3D polygonal representation of
actor Peter FondaOs head. was rendered and filmed out at 3000 pixel
resolution. Also the first time such high resolution was used work a motion
picture.
Nelson Max's sphere inversion film shown at SIGGRAPH?
James Blinn develops bump mapping, and environment (reflection) mapping
at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California
[SIDEBAR] Close Encounters CGEALMOST!
Bo Gehring, founder of Bo Gehring Associates of Venice, California,
produced computer animation tests for Steven Spielberg's CLOSE
ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. The tests did not result in any
production work on the film.
1977
Star Wars (Twentieth Century Fox)
The Death Star simulation was designed and created by pioneering
algorithmic artist Larry Cuba. George Lucas was impressed both by CubaOs
early abstract CG film First Fig(1974) and the fact that he had worked with
another pioneer of motion control and computer graphics John Whitney Sr.
Ben Burt, the films sound designer, had been tasked to get the word out
around town and track down bids for the work.
Cuba designed storyboards from the description of the scene in the script,
and worked on the job at the University of Illinois Chicago. A 2D drawing
program that Cuba designed with the GRASS language was modified to allow
input of a third Z axis for every point entered on the digitizing tablet,
creating the 3D representation of the Death Star surface.
Using the Vector General based GRASS graphics system designed by Tom
DeFanti, Larry worked night and day for 12 weeks to produce 2 minutes of
film of which 40 seconds appeared in the final film sequence.
[RENDER TIME QUOTE] "(While the GRASS system was capable of real time
animation) the real time capability came from the Vector General's hardware
implementation of basic transformations, like translation, rotation and
scaling. also the projection transformation that turns a 3D object into a 2D
drawing, but it was only capable of a parallel projection (that is, no 'true
perspective'). Since I needed perspective for this project, I was back to
using software for the projection and therefore *not* able to animate the
scene in real time. I was getting a frame rate of about two minutes of
computation per frame and so the whole shot took about 12 hours." -Larry
Cuba
(A rented Mitchell camera filmed the imagery off of the computer monitor)
The finished footage was originally intended to be shot as a rear projected
element live on stage with the actors in London, but greatly reduced
production deadlines made that impossible. The full story as told by Larry
Cuba himself:
There was traditional hand animation done for the final four seconds of the
bomb entering the death star exhaust port and exploding; completed by
John Wash at Image West.
Other computer graphic and video display images were created for Star
Wars by several different people. John Wash, Jay Teitzell and Dan
OOBannon at Image West created many electronic video graphic effects for
the targeting computers and background tactical displays. Larry Cuba also
completed several graphics seen in the DeathStar guard room when R2 and
C3PO first tap into the central computer.
[SIGGRAPH FACTOID] The 1977 SIGGRAPH convention Electronic Film
Show also ended with Larry CubaOs work, although not as planned. Halfway
through his film "First Fig" all the power went out in the hotel bringing it, and
the show to a premature ending.
1978
James Blinn produces the first in his series of animations for the The
Mechanical Universe
1979
Catmull leaves NYIT to head the Lucasfilm Computer Development Division.
He is soon joined by Alvy Ray Smith, David Di Francesco, Tom Duff and
Ralph Guggenheim.
[QUOTE] "In 1979, the most significant artistic event of my career occurred:
Ed Emshwiller and I created Sunstone. It is primarily his piece, but we
worked very closely on this piece and I am still extremely proud of it. It is in
several museum collections of the world, including MOMA. Lance Williams
and Garland Stern also helped some on it." -Alvy Ray Smith
The Black Hole (Disney): Opening grid/black hole simulation. By John
Hughes (Rythm and Hues) et al. at Robert Abel & Associates.
Alien: Alan Sutcliffe at Systems Simulation Ltd. Of London created a
computer monitor sequence showing a 3D terrain fly-over, rendering
computer-generated mountains as wireframe images, with hidden line
removal.
Meteor has vector graphics created by Triple-I
Julien Gomez developes TWIXT at Ohio State software used at Cranston
Csuri Productions.
Raytracing developed at Bell Labs & Cornell University. Turner Whitted
published a paper for SIGGRAPH 79 describing raytracing techniques.
1980's
The first digital computers used in CG as we know it today were introduced
in the early 1980s by companies such as Apple Computer and Silicon
Graphics Inc. The consumer market began with the Macintosh personal
computer and its MacDraw and MacPaint software. Commercial CG
production was boosted by new digital machines such as the (MORE INFO!)
and the early Silicon Graphics workstations such as the IRIS 3130 in 1989.
At the same time, third party companies began providing specialized
software to run on these new graphic platforms. For 2D graphic design and
image processing, Photoshop was introduced for the Mac in 198?. Early 3D
animation software for the higher end market included Wavefront(1987),
Intelligent Light(198?), and Alias v1.0(1984).
The mid 1980Os to early 1990Os were a time of tremendous advances in
technology and stunning creative breakthroughs. Companies such as Robert
Abel and Associates, III, Magi, Omnibus, and Digital Productions created
such memorable images as Sexy Robot (ABEL), Chromosaurs (PDI), and the
Benson & Hedges(Digital Productions) commercials.
The U.S. National Science Foundation began to provide supercomputer
access to university research programs, including the University of Illinois
Supercomputing Center.
1980
LOOKER: Triple-I produces seven minutes of computer graphics under the
Direction of Richard Taylor et al. Polygonal models of a complete human
body were created.
Loren Carpenter at Lucasfilm's Games Group & Atari created "Rescue From
Fractalus!"
Chris Briscoe and Paul Brown co-founded Digital Pictures as the UK's first
specialist computer animation company
1981
Nelson Max begins making computer graphics for the IMAX film format at
Lawrence Livermore National Labs.
Computer Assisted Animation Stand(CAAS) at NYIT Computer Graphics Lab.
Adam Powers (The juggling tuxedo guy): Part of Information International
Inc. (III) demo reel shown at SIGGRAPH that year.
Nintendo introduces the Donkey Kong video game
1982
Tom Brigham (NYIT) introduces the first full raster "morf" technique at the
1982 SIGGRAPH conference.
Silicon Graphics Inc. formed by Jim Clark (University of Utah 197?) For lots
of details see the "Companies" chapter.
Autodesk formed by Dan Drake and John Walker, release Auto-CAD v1.0 at
COMDEX.
The first all digital computer generated image sequence for a motion picture
film: Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan/genesis
sequence. First use of fractal geometry and particle systems, based on Tom
DefantiOs work from his "Vol Libre" film (completed while at Boeing). Bill
Reeves fire, Tom Porters stars, Loren Carpenters fractals, Tom Duffs moon.
Tron (Disney): First extensive use of 3D CGI animation for a feature film.
Robert Abel & Associates created the title sequence for the film, and the
entry to the digital computer world. Digital Effects created the little bit
character. Mathematical Applications Group Inc. (MAGI) created the light
cycles and most of the recognizers. Information International Inc. (Triple-I)
created SarkOs carrier, the solar sailer, and the MCP character sequences
near he end of the film.
In total, there was only about 15 minutes of computer generated imagery
created. The majority of effects were accomplished by traditional animation
techniques involving tens of thousands of hand rotoscoped individual frames
of artwork.
1982/83
Where the Wild Things Are (Test done at MAGI): The first instance of digital
compositing for motion picture work. The character animation was done at
Disney (lead by Glen Keane,) and the cg backgrounds, rendering, painting,
and compositing was done at Magi/Synthavision. Jon Lasseter was the
official Disney-Magi liaison. Ken Perlin supervised the project, with the CG
work lead by Chris Wedge and Jan Carlee (both now at Blue Sky.). Software
was by Ken Perlin, Christine Chang, Gene Miller, and Josh Pines. Look for
many more details in the Companies Chapter!
1983
The Bosch FGS-4000 (the first true turnkey 3-D System) is introduced at
NAB in 1983.
Cube Quest(Simutrek Inc.): Early 3D graphics video game.
Return Of The Jedi (Twentieth Century-Fox/LucasFilm Ltd.): Holographic
Endor moon sequence by the LucasFilm Computer Graphics Group. Bill
Reeves and John Lasseter did it using vector graphics to simulate raster
graphics!
1984
Synthavision, a division of MAGI, is sold off to a Canadian investment
company.
Silicon Graphics releases itOs first commercial product, the IRIS 1000
terminal (which ran off a VAX host).
Wavefront software company formed in Santa Barbera, CA by Bill Kovacks et
al E LOTS MORE
A modern global illumination rendering technique called Radiosity is
presented by a team led by Don Greenberg at Cornell University.
The Apple Macintosh computer is released. The first personal computer with
a graphical user interface (GUI).
The Adventures Of Andre And Wally B. LucasFilm Computer Graphics
Division. Alvy Ray Smith directed John Lasseter in his first CG short
animated film.
[SIDEBAR NOT!] Dune: Cool 3D CGI body armor. NOT! (Traditional
animation done by Jeff Burks while at Van derVeer Photo Effects.)
The Last Starfighter (Lorimar): The first CG project by the new Digital
Productions formed by Gary Demos and John Whitney Jr. after having just
left Triple-I.
2010: Odyssey Two: Digital Productions worked with Boss Film Corp.Os
Richard Edlund. Larry Yaeger, Craig Upson, Neil Krepela, et al. combined
computational fluid dynamics with CGI to create the planet Jupiter.
1985
DisneyOs The Black Cauldron is the first use of 3D computer graphic
elements in an animated film. (true?)
The first ever Academy award recognition for computer graphics
achievement: John Whitney Jr. and Gary Demos of Digital Productions
receive The Scientific and Engineering Award was for "the practical
simulation of motion picture photography by means of computer generated
images (1984).
Bob AbelOs Sexy Robot completed for the Canned Food Council.
The animated short film Tony de Peltrie by Phillipe Bergeron shows at
SIGGRAPH 85. Using digitized clay models, and the new user friendly
TAARNA 3D animation system (From U.Toronto) along with additional
keyframe interpolating algorithms by Kochanek described at the previous
years SIGGRAPH. (Phillipe also did hero animation on the Symbolics short
Stanley and Stella in 19??)
[SIDEBAR NOT!] Max headroom was NOT computer generated. (Really, take
my word for it.) Beginning with the 1985 British music video show and TV
pilot, he was portrayed by actor Matt Frewer in stylized makeup with added
video editing effects. The US TV series produced in 1987 did feature some
other on screen CG (created with an Amiga) but never Max himself. (BTW,
10 years later actor Matt Frewer later stared in the LawnmowerMan II
sequelEinfinately less good than Max IMO) For all things Max visit:
http://www.maxheadroom.com/altfaq.html
Commodore introduces the Amiga color personal computer.
Playland (Atari Corp.): Bill Kovacs.
Los Alamos National Lab: The Ultra-High Speed Graphics Project is started.
It pioneers animation as a visualization tool and requires gigabit-per-second
communication capacity. An early massively parallel (128-node) Intel
computer is installed.
Young Sherlock Holmes Stained glass knight sequence: First CG Character in
a feature film and also the First computer generated images in a feature film
to be exposed directly onto the film with a laser. By the PIXAR Animation
Group, A Division of LucasFilm LTD.
[FACTOID] David DiFrancesco built the laser scanner that was used for
Young Sherlok Holmes. The former video artist would later (in 1999) receive
his second Technical Academy Award for this achievement.
Money For Nothing MTV video by Dire Straits.(Steve Barron director) Gavin
Blair and Ian Pearson created the animation at Rushes Post production in
London, done on the Bosch FGS-4000. The Quantel effects were done by Viv
Scott. Ian and Gavin now own and run a company in Vancouver called
Mainframe, out of which they produced Reboot(1994).
Cranston-Csuri produces many national broadcast network graphics, but
closes in 1987. Many of its employees go on to later form MetroLight Studios
(1987).
[BIO] Gary Demos: (studied under Ivan Sutherland at Utah?) E Cal Tech,
went to work at E&S in 1972 and met John Whitney Jr. Began working on
projects with III then went with Whitney to III to form the "Motion Picture
Design Group" in 1974. Left III just before Tron production, again with
Whitney, to form there own company Digital Productions. DP filed for
chapter 11 in 198? But was then continued as Optimistic by Whitney. Demos
the formed his own company, which still exists today: DemoGraFX.
1986
SoftImage founded in Montreal by Daniel Langois.
Mick Jagger's Hard Woman music video. Digital Productions Brad deGraf, Bill
Kroyer, Kevin Rafferty. Et al. CG Co-Produced by Nancy St.John and Alan
Peach.
"The Juggler": An Amiga demo by Eric Graham.
Digital Productions create the three minute opening sequence for the feature
film Labyrinth.
Complex 2D vector graphics character animation was produced by Digital
Productions for the Mick Jagger music video Hard Woman.
PIXAR formed by Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Division pioneers Edwin
Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith along with about 35 others including John
Lasseter, Ralph Guggenheim, Bill Reeves, et al. Purchased from George
Lucas by Steve Jobs (Apple/NeXT) for $10 million.
Luxo Jr. (PIXAR Animation Studios): First CG Short Animated Film to be
nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Animated Film
Flight of the Navigator: Omnibus Computer Graphics creates the silvery
reflective spaceship. (Jeff Kleiser?)
The Great Mouse Detective: Disney first use of 3D computer graphic
elements in an animated film. (Or was it The Black Cauldron in 1985?)
Howard the Duck: first digital wire removal for a feature film. Painted by
Bruce Wallace at ILM with proprietary "Layerpaint" software on a Pixar
Image computer. Layerpaint code originally written by Mark Leather and
modified by Jonathan Luskin and Doug Smythe.
Star Trek IV: First use of Cyberware 3D scanner for film
Digital Productions is purchased, then also Robert Abel & Associates, by
Omnibus Computer Graphics in 1986. Omnibus goes out of business one
year later in 1987.
1987
Rhythm and Hues formed by ex-Abel staffers in a formaer dentist office.
Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future
The first television series to include characters that were done entirely with
computer animation. It went on the air (September) in North America.
Soaron and Blastarr were two CG robots that appeared in the 22 episode
series. The computer animation was produced by Arcca Animation in
Toronto.
[SYNTHAVISION FACTOID] "Arcca was the reformation of Sythavision staff
and software to do the Captain Power series that was a creation of Landmark
Entertainment (Hollywood) and financed by Mattel. The show featured toys
that were interactive with the television show by registering blast hits on the
toy (via a 30hz flicker on TV) or on the TV show character (via a trigger pull
during a 15hz flicker from the TV)." -Paul Griffin
About four minutes of computer graphics was animated for each episode
every week using two SGI 3130 workstations running Wavefront software.
The motion was then ported over to Sythavision data.
Rendering was done on 13 Sun Workstations that ran a proprietary job
control system, that would pick up new frames in a sequence as they were
completed, which may have been the first render farm of its time. The work
for the show won Arcca a Gemini Award (the pinnacle in Canadian film
production) for Technical Achievement in 1988.
The producer was Bob Robbins. The art director was Earl Huddleston. Paul
Griffin(ILM) was Animation Director, Andy Varty, Sylvia Wong(Rhythm &
Hues, ILM), Les Major (ILM, Pixar). Paintbox work by Rob Smith and Mike
Huffman. Jenniffer Julich was in charge of storyboards. Rob Coleman, was
Arcca's onset liason/line producer. Mark Mayerson now directs Monster by
Mistake on DisneyTV and YTV (Canada). On the live action production side,
Doug Netter (Rattlesnake Productions) and Larry Dittillo(sp?) (the writer)
went on to develop Babyon 5.
1988
Fruit Machine (Wonder World): The first all digital film composite for a
feature film by Computer Film Company (CFC)/London. The first time
multiple film elements were scanned into a computer, 100% digitally
composited, and filmed back out again.
Jim Henson and Digital Productions create a real-time 3D digital character
for the Jim Henson Hour. The first of its kind. Steve Whitmeyer(sp?) was the
puppeteer and voice. Thad Bier(PDI/Hammerhead) and Grahm Walters and
Rex, shipped all the equipment up to Toronto one week before SIGGRAPH.
The opening to the show was done by Jamie Dixon(PDI/Hammerhead).
Mike the Talking Head The first real-time character (aka motion-capture,
vactor, performance animation). Michael Wahrman and Brad deGraf did it at
deGraf/Wahrman live at the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theatre in Atlanta. ( Mike
was a virtual caricature of the late Mike Gribble, the host of that show, and
the Mike of Spike and Mike's animation festival.)
Willow (MGM/Lucasfilm Ltd.): First feature film use of digital morphing
technology.
CAPS(Computer Animation Paint System) developed jointly between Pixar
and Disney.
Tin Toy (PIXAR Animation Studios): First CG Short Animated Film to win an
Oscar for Best Short Animated Film
1989
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Lucasfilm Ltd. /Paramount): The first
all digital composite for a major US feature film, the "DonovanOs
destruction" sequence by ILM. Multiple film elements were scanned into a
computer, digitally composited, and then scanned back out to film.
The Abyss (GJP Productions/Twentieth Century-Fox): Water Pseudopod.
1990's
The entertainment world as we know it began to change in the 1980s when
motion picture images in Tron, Star Trek II, The Last Starfighter, and Young
Sherlock Holmes gave the audience a taste of the future. Now, George
LucasOs Industrial Light + Magic began to continuously raise the popular
standard by which all CG was judged by creating such images as the water
pseudopod in James CameronOs film The Abyss (1989) and the T-1000 in
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1990). In 1993 ILM smashed all previous
conceptions about computer graphics when Jurassic ParkOs photo-real
dinosaurs took center stage in theaters around the world.
1990
deGraf/Wahrman did The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, the first CG
ridefilm. It was a fully 3D chase/ride through Bedrock and Scooby-Doo's
castle, with cel animated characters, for Universal Studios Florida.
(Additional CG work by Rhythm and Hues)
Robocop 2 (Also by deGraf/Wahrman) was the first use
in feature films of Performance AnimationEamong those who also
contributed were Ken Cope(animation) and Gregory Ercolano(TD).
The Rescuers Down Under: The first complete feature film to be "completely
digital". The CAPS system digitally ink and paints every frame of the film.
Die Hard 2:Die Harder (Twentieth Century-Fox): The first digitally
manipulated matte painting created at Industrial Light & Magic. Matte
department supervisor was Bruce Walters, Paul Huston and Michael
McAllister helped in design and composition and Yusei Uesugi was the matte
painter extraordinare. Four separate images were digitized from the
painting (13 feet wide by 5 feet tall), decreasing in resolution from the
center outward. The images were assembled in a MacII computer, and
manipulated by Uesugi using Photoshop. The image was combined with
numerous live-action elements of people, lights and steam with a camera
move programmed by Pat Myers.
NewTek releases the Amiga based Video Toaster.
1991
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Carolco): T-1000 liquid metal
cyborgBeautiful all CG commercials by PIXAR for Listerine, Life Savers and
Tropicana set s new standard for broadcast excellence.
DisneyOs Beauty And The Beast ballroom sequence is a major new direction
in feature length animated films.
1992
Death Becomes Her (Universal): Photoreal human skin and body
replacement.
1993
Wavefront acquires the TDI software company from Thompson Corp of
France. In exchange Wavefront receives a major capital investment from
Thompson
PDI opens a Hollywood production office. This office would close in a short
few years.
Marc Scaparro, Eric Gregory and Brad deGraf did Moxy for the Cartoon
Network at Colossal Pictures. Produced by Anne
Brilz. It was the first live broadcast of a virtual character.
Jurassic Park (Amblin/Universal): Photo-real 3D Digital
Dinosaurs
1994
Reboot: the first 100% CGI television series airs on ABC from Mainframe
Entertainment Inc.
Microsoft acquires Softimage
Forrest Gump (Paramount): Photoreal/invisible 3D and 2D digital effects
blending new footage with old, changing archive footage, and removing
Gary Sinese(sp?) legs! By ILM of course.
Flintstones (Universal): First feature film digital hair developed for the saber
toothed tiger.
1995
Silicon Graphics, Inc. acquires both Alias and Wavefront, merging the two
companies.
Toy Story (PIXAR Animation Studios): First full length CG Animated feature
film. Director John Lasseter wins a Special Achievement Academy Award.
Judge Dredd (Cinergi): Early examples of fully 3D digital stunt people by the
Kleiser-Walzack Construction Company for Mass-Illusion.
Casino (Dir. Martin Scorsese): Matte World Digital utilizes LightScape
software to seamlessly integrate a 1970s virtual Las Vegas strip into present
day live action footage. The first time radiosity lighting was used in a feature
film.
Batman Forever (Warner Brothers): Early example of 3D realistic digital
stuntman by Warner Brother Imaging Technology (W.B.I.T.)and Pacific Data
Images. Also a very realistic, fully 3D cityscape by W.B.I.T.
Casper (Amblin/Universal): Record number of on screen shots with a digital
character. 400+
Jumanji (Tri-Star): Further development of particle based digital hair
technology for Lion sequence.
1996
Alvy Ray Smith, Ed Catmull, Tom Porter, and Tom Duff receive a Technical
Academy Award for digital image compositing (ie the alpha channel)
Dragonheart (Universal): Breakthrough 3D CGI character animation and
lip-synch dialog.
Twister: Breakthrough realistic tornadoes and weather effects by Industrial
Light and Magic using WavefrontOs Dynamation..
1997
Floops (done at Protozoa by Brad deGraf, Emre
Yilmaz, Steve Rein and others) was the first character distributed as 3D
(VRML), the first episodic cartoon on the Web, and the first significant
animation on the web (30 minutes worth).
Star Wars/Special Edition (Twentieth Century-Fox/LucasFilm Ltd.):
Restored and enhanced 20 year old film footage. About 350 shots were
added or modified for all three films.
Spawn: Photo-real fully 3D creature transformations, full screen digital stunt
doubles, and dynamic simulated cape. All with bone-cracking, digital-drool
slinging realism.
Titanic: Large scale use of motion-capture and 3D digital crowd extras.
1998
Alvy Ray Smith and Dick Shoup receive a Technical Academy Award for
digital painting.
Geri's Game (Pixar): Academy Award winning animated short film
showcases the newly rediscovered modeling technique of "subdivision
surfaces".
Antz (PDI/Dreamworks)
A Bug's Life (Pixar/Disney)
1999
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The first film contains 2000 digital effect
shots. It's a whole new record for a feature film. A whole lot of every types
of digital effects in each frame.
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