I've had a few posts now, and I'm starting to recognize a rhythm. It seems like you can expect a new blog post from me once a week. We'll try that out and see how well that works.
That said, I almost didn't get a post done this week. Aside from my Blender education, I've been reading "The Animators Survival Kit" by Richard Williams. I'm only on Chapter 2, but let me tell you, it has certainly held my attention! The book is not specifically targeted at CG artists, but rather Animators in general. Mr. Williams has extensive experience in the animation industry dating back to the Golden Age of animation, when Disney was young. So, while he recognizes the influence and potential of CG, he has a background in the traditional. Personally, while I've never felt particularly skilled in traditional art or animation, though I can see the benefit of it. Especially in regards to composition. As such, I am working on improving my skills in the traditional art forms while also studying Blender. After all, Blender is only a tool used to create Art!
Since I've brought up history... I decided this week to look into CG a bit deeper. There are two abbreviations used interchangeably for this field: CG and CGI. CG stands for Computer Graphics, while CGI stands for Computer Generated Imagery. In many cases the difference is negligible, but there is, in fact, a difference. Really CG is more a description of the art form, where CGI is a reference to how the art is made. For example, 3D Art, while directed by the artist, pretty much has to be generated by the computer and, as such, is CGI. However, Digital Painting is not actually generated by the computer, but rather the computer is being directed by the artist and so, it is CG.
CG, or Computer Graphics, as a term, traces it's roots back to 1960, where the term was coined by William Fetter of Boeing. Mr. Fetter, however, gives credit to Verne Hudson (also of Boeing). However graphics were being displayed digitally before then. In 1958, one of the first video games(potentially the first, but not typically recognized as such), called Tennis for Two, was designed for an Oscilloscope to be played by guests at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Various advances were made in the field of CG, but it wasn't until 1977 that SIGGRAPH put together the first standard for computer graphics, called the 3D Core Graphics System (or Core). It's hard to imagine now that 3D graphics were a thing at that time, but in fact SIGGRAPH was founded well before that, in 1969, and stands for Special Interest Group on Graphics. As the name implies they pushed the limits of CG, and continue to do so. It was also during the 70's that some of our currently used shaders were originally conceived. You might not be familiar with the names of the people, but you'll recognize them nonetheless: Henri Gouraud, Bui Tuong Phong, and Jim Blinn. Jim Blinn later laid the foundation in 1978 for what would become known as bump mapping. Of course the 70's also introduced video games to the public with such hits as Pong and Space Invaders.
Of course, it was the 80's that truly revolutionized video games with companies like Nintendo, Sega and even Microsoft bringing video games into our homes. These video games certainly contributed to the interest in CG, but the major innovations were happening elsewhere. In Japan, Osaka University built the LINKS-1 Computer Graphics System in 1982 expressly for the purpose of generating 3D graphics. Using up to 257 microprocessors, the worlds first 3D planetarium-like video of the entire heavens was created by this supercomputer. It remained the most powerful computer in the world until 1984. While that in itself was hugely impressive and a tremendous leap forward for the technology of CG, it was relatively unknown. Instead, it was movies such as Star Wars which drew the attention, and in turn, the largest development activity. Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic raised the bar on CGI during this decade and became the go-to studios for top notch computer graphics. Later, Pixar emerged from within the walls of Industrial Light & Magic to become the animation giant that we know today.
This is a very brief overview of the history of CG, and to be sure there was much, much more going on which advanced the technology to what we know today.
I don't know if the history on this subject is as interesting to you as it is to me, but I'll prevent myself from going on about it further at this time. Instead, I'll give you something a little more visual.
In keeping with the history theme, I present: The Bouncing Ball. This is generally considered to be the first exercise of traditional animators, and is still to this day used as an introduction to computer animation.
Also, as an extra treat, here is the next sign of spring! The First Tree Blossom!
Thanks for sticking with me to the end! I'll talk to you again next week!
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