Computer Generated Images: Difference between revisions

 

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* ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' was the first fully-computer-generated feature film.

* The first genuine attempt at photo-realistic humans done entirely by computer was ''[[Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within|Final Fantasy the Spirits Within]]''.

* ''[[The Black Cauldron]]'' is the first traditionally animated film to use CGI. This consisted of [[Rotoscoping]] wire-frame graphics onto animation cels, creating an effect similar to [[Cel Shading]]. Objects created this way include the cauldron itself and the boat used to escape the Horned King's castle. Disney had previously done this sort of shortcut for animating solid objects by rotoscoping models with lines painted on the edges.

 

* ''[[Westworld]]'' from 1973 was the very first feature film to use CGI. They used digital image processing to create a [[Robo Cam]] effect.

** Its sequel ''Futureworld'' featured a 3D CGI hand and face

* ''[[Terminator]] 2'' introduced the T-1000 liquid metal android, complete with transforming its arms into blades and turning into different characters. One of the most iconic shots from the film is the completely silver humanoid figure [[Unflinching Walk|marching out of a fireball and slowly reforming into a cop]].

 

* CGI caught on much sooner in broadcasting than it did in film, largely due to the smaller budgets involved, and most of its appearances on TV were in advertising, Station Identification and educational shows like ''[[The Electric Company]]'' due to its strange but eye-catching appearance. The first computers used in video work were analog machines like Scanimate, which were in turn based on the switcher consoles used in TV studios (some of which later incorporated Scanimate-like effects such as picture-in-picture). Later on, as digital computers became more capable, animation from companies like Cranston/Csuri, Digital Productions and [[Dreamworks Animation|Pacific Data Images]] became common, as did special-effects systems like the Chyron and the Paintbox. TV commercials are also what kept [[Pixar]] alive in the years between leaving ILM and the premiere of ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]''.

* Averted, to the surprise of many, by the original TV series version of ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]''—the "computer graphics" display of Guide entries which made up so much of the show were actually painstakingly ''hand-animated'' using traditional methods.