Introduction
Millions of people watch movies every year, marveling at the impeccable CGI (Computer-generated imagery). According to some studies, teens use their phones for an average of about 8 hours a week, surfing social media and popular websites like YouTube. Knowingly or unknowingly, computer graphics is inherent everywhere around us. Consumers often overlook how much computer graphics is part of their lives, from bringing their favorite characters to life to providing realistic simulations.
Humble beginnings
Douglas T. Ross of the Whirlwind Sage system performed a personal experiment in the 1950s. He recorded the movement of his finger and displayed his name on an oscilloscope, making the first-ever “Computer Graphics” simulation.
Further advances in technology helped create the first interactive computer simulation in 1959, called the TX-2 computer, in which one could use a light pen to draw sketches on the computer.
Early Development
In 1961, Steve Russell created the first video game ‘SpaceWar!’ (it’s, in fact, ‘Tennis for Two’ by William Higinbotham, but it was unknown outside research or academic settings).
But perhaps the most important discovery was Bezier curves. In the early 1960s, Pierre Bézier at Renault worked on the idea of using curves for the 3D modeling of car bodies. He provided a simple but efficient method to draw complex curves using linear equations. To this day, Bezier curves stand as a foundation for 3D curve modeling.
With the advent of personal computers popping up in every household in the west in the 1980s, graphics developers increased significantly. This age saw the rise of ‘Star Wars’ and its graphics company, Industrial Light & Magic, which became a pioneer in graphics simulation. They developed methods to render and shade the objects separately, which allowed the artists to change appearances on the fly and sped up the tedious visual art process.
On the opposite side of the globe, Atari, Nintendo, and Sega, among other companies, developed techniques to simulate real-time 3D graphics in arcades and used GPU and parallel processing with CPU to optimize graphics. This period is thus rightly called the “Golden Era of Video Games”.
The Rise of 3D
The early 1990s began with Pixar starting with its commercial advent with ‘Toy Story’ in 1995, which marked its many animated hits to come. Pixar is still regarded as an industry leader and research trail breaker, using methods in modern software like Blender.
In the field of Video games, we got real-time 3D graphics like Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake in the west, and Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, among many titles in the east, laid the foundation for the future 3D games.
And perhaps the most exciting development was of graphics processing frameworks like OpenGL, an open-source software that gave a chance to casual users to try their hands on graphics with simple syntax. All one needed was creativity and a spark of inspiration.
William E. Lorensen and Harvey E. Cline invented methods like marching cubes in this period, which used 16 simple geometries to build complex shapes in even the weakest machines. This method has also proved beneficial in medicine, where MRI scans were converted to 3D interactives, helping doctors understand diseases better.
Modern Day
In today’s date, many softwares like Unreal Engine, Unity, Godot, Blender, and Houdini are available, either free or ask minimal fees, to help you produce movie-style graphics. With enough time, effort and creativity, one can even render real places from memory.
With game engines also came more advanced graphics processing frameworks like Vulkan and DirectX, which allowed individuals to develop new methods with the speed of these frameworks.
What’s in store for the future?
Recently Unreal engine introduced its nanite technology, which simulates farther objects with minor detail, thus reducing CPU stress. Discoveries like these help push back the boundaries of our limitations.
Perhaps computer graphics will help visualize abstract and more complex ideas opening a whole new world of possibilities.
“The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.” – Richard Hamming
References:
- https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens-2019
- Lambert, Bruce (2008-11-07). “Brookhaven Honors a Pioneer Video Game”. The New York Times. p. LI1. Retrieved 2009-03-23.
- Lorensen, William E.; Cline, Harvey E. (1 August 1987). “Marching cubes: A high-resolution 3D surface construction algorithm”. ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics.
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