It is an image that has been taken from one format and has been converted using computer software tools that manipulate lighting and reflections to create a photorealistic image. These tools can also create exploded and multiple views and allow you to see your product in a variety of finishes and materials before you take it to production. The computer starts with a blank screen and from there builds a computer-generated images from scratch.
History
Before Evans & Sutherland, the only graphically capable computers were incredibly expensive and therefore only used by the military.
1962 is when computer graphics began with Ivan Sutherland a Ph.D student. He wrote a simple program that enabled drawing lines of light in various geometric shapes directly onto a cathode ray tube. This program, called Sketchpad, was extremely primitive but it opened the door to a brand new use of computers, graphics.
In 1964 Sutherland teamed up with Dr. David Evans. They created the world's first academic computer graphics department. It was from this computer graphics department that such things as desktop publishing, virtual reality and 3D modeling originated.
In 1969 Evans & Sutherland produced the first commercial computer graphics workstation used for computer-aided design (CAD)
In 1978 George Lucas hired Edwin Catmull from NYIT to start the Lucasfilm Computer Development Division. This division began to research the application of digital technology to filmmaking.
In 1978 computer graphics studios rapidly emerged. They all began producing computer generated graphics for television, especially flying logos for companies. It is a lot easier to produce computer graphics for the television compared to film. There are many more computer calculations required to apply computer graphics to a frame of film than to a television.
In 1982, the first motion picture with computer-generated graphics appeared. Named the "Genesis Effect", for some sixty seconds of the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn showed a missile hitting a planet and turning that dead planet into a planet flourishing with life. This entirely computer-generated sequence was the result of the efforts of Lucasfilm's Computer Division.
In the mid 1980's showed many advances in computer technology which brought about much faster and cheap computers which meant the costs of CGI'S dropped in price which put many companies under pressure. Many companies were unable to pay loan repayments, however one company PDI managed to stay out of debt and become one of largest commercial CGI companies.
An example of a CGI;
Toy Story (1994) was the first completely computer generated film.
Institutions
Warner Bros is an institution that stands at the forefront of every aspect of entertaintment. They create feature films, DVD'S, television programmes and many more. They are a national and international company that can broadcast throughout the world. examples of there products are;
- South Park
- Scooby Doo
- Superman Animation
- Looney Tunes
- Toy Story
- Monsters INC
- Finding Nemo
- Cars
- The Incredibles
- Ratatouille
- Bugs life
From 1992–2000, they operated Fox Animation Studios, a traditional animation studio which was started to compete with Walt Disney Animation Studios, which was experiencing great success at the time with films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. The Fox studio, however, was not as successful. Their first feature Anastasia, although critically acclaimed as being of Disney caliber and often mistaken as a Disney film. At present, Fox owns Blue Sky Studios, a computer animation company. Fox has had much more success with Blue Sky, and the box office receipts of their films are competitive with that of Pixar's. 20th Century Fox have created such products as;
- Robots
- Ice age
- Family Guy
- The Simpsons
- American Dad
Sony are a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation and one of the world's largest media conglomerates. Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game consoles and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Sony have created products that use computer generated images such as the Playstation (1,2 & 3). The computer generated images are used within the games used with this device.
Nintendo is a company based in Japan which began as a card producer. It became a video game company and has grown into one of the most powerful in the industry and is Japan's third most valuable listed company. Nintendo have created devices such as the Nintendo 64, the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo WII and the Gameboy (colour, advance, black and white etc). CGI's are used within the games that are used with this device.
Microsoft was founded in 1975 to 1985 by Bill Gates. However Microsoft entered the multi-billion-dollar game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo in late 2001,[50] with the release of the Xbox. The company develops and publishes its own video games for this console, with the help of its Microsoft Game Studios subsidiary, in addition to third-party Xbox video game publishers such as Electronic Arts and Activision, who pay a license fee to publish games for the system. The Xbox also has a successor in the Xbox 360, released in 2005. Microsoft uses CGI within the games the XBOX uses.
