CGI History Timeline

1960’s
Computer generated imagary originated in the 1960’s, with pioneers such as Charles Csuri. In 1963, he began experimenting in CGI and created his first computer generated artwork. In 1965 he created a real-time interactive 3D animation. Another key figure in CGI from the 1960’s was John Whitney Senior. He is known for bringing CGI into films, with the slit-scan technique used in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

1970’s
John Whitney Senior’s son, John Whitney Junior was involved in the digital image processing used in Westworld (1973) and it’s sequal Futureworld (1974)The first time actual 3D graphics was used in film was in Star Wars Episode 4 - A New Hope (1977). Such technology was used again in Superman (1978), Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and Disney’s The Black Hole (1979). 

1980’s
In 1981, shaded 3D graphics was used for the first time in film, in Looker. It was created at III (Information International Inc.). John Whitney Junior was part of III. The next big use of GCI in film was in Star Trek II – Wrath of Khan (1982), where there was a 1 minute long piece of CGI. Tron (also released in 1982) also used CGI. III, as well as Magi Synthavison, Digital Effects of New York and Robert Abel were involved in its creation (John Whitney Junior had left III by this time). Robert Abel created the first computer generated television advert in 1985. It was called Brilliance (also known as Sexy Robot). He followed up with another advert for Del Monte’s Hawian Punch in 1986, which is was known for its excellent models and texture mapping.  

1990’s
In 1990 3D Studio Max was made. It was a program that allowed you to make 3D models. Terminator 2 – Judgment Day (1991) used the continuous skin technique. Another big CGI film was Jurrasic Park (1993). Dreamworks SKG was founded in 1995. Both 3D films and 3D gaming began to appear with Disney’s Toy Story (1995) and Ninendo’s Super Mario 64 (1996) being notable ones. In 1998 Alias Maya was released. The sequal to Toy Story, Toy Story 2 was released in 1999.

Disney and Pixar
Disney have always been a large part of CGI. In the 1970’s they created the Disney Visual Effects lab, which became the Buena Vista Visual Effects in 1990 and changed again to Buena Vista Imaging in 1996. Disney are known for animated films such as Toy Story and A Bug’s Life, which were created by Pixar Studios. Pixar was once part of Lucas Arts. and were part of the team that made the CGI in Star Wars Episode 4 - A New Hope. Pixar made many short films throughout the 1980’s. In the 1990’s Disney and Pixar teamed up to create CG animated feature films. The first they made was Toy Story in 1995. They then went on to make other films – A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006) and Ratatouille (2007).

Dreamworks
Another major studio who does CGI is Dreamworks Animation SKG. The origins of Dreamworks Animation lies within Pacific Data Images (PDI). PDI was founded in 1980, and are known for making the digital effects in Terminator 2 in 1991. Dreamworks SKG formed in 1997 and the two made a co-production deal. The first film for them was Antz (1998) and it was their first CG animated feature film. In 2000, Dreamworks SKG aquired PDI and a new division called Dreamworks Animation was made. This stuido specifically dealt with animation, (both 2d and 3d). Dreamworks Animation seperated from Dreamworks SKG, to form Dreamworks Animation SKG in 2004.

Shrek (2001) was the next Dreamworks film after Antz, and was followed by Shrek 2 (2004), Shark Tale (2004), Madagascar (2005), Over the Hedge (2006), Shrek the Third (2007) and Bee Movie (2007). Much like how all Pixar films are distrubuted by Disney, all Dreamworks Animation films are distributed by Paramount.

Cartesian Co-ordinate System

The Cartesian Co-ordinate System is a system that creates the illusion of working in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional space. They have 2 or 3 axes. At the centre, where the axes meet there is O. This is the origin, the point where the axes intersect.

The 2-dimensional Cartesian system has two axes, x and y (horizontal and vertical). With these two axes, you can locate any point in a two-dimensional space. Each section of the Cartesian Co-ordinate System is split into Quadrents. Quadrent 1 (x,y), 2 (-x,y), 3 (-x,-y) and 4 (x,-y). 

The three-dimensional Cartesian system has three axes, which are x, y and z (horizontal, vertical and depth). The z axis was added to the Cartesian Co-ordinate system during the 19th century.  This meant that any point in a three-dimensional space could be located using the Cartesian Co-oridinate System.

The Cartesian Co-ordinate System was developed by Rene Descartes, a french mathematician, in 1637. Descates was not only a mathematician, but a philosopher. He is known for the famous, “I think, therefore I am” quote.