JVC - Time Rider - Computer Dreaming (1981) VintageCG 2026-09-20 | JVC - Time Rider - Computer Dreaming (1981)
VODER (1939) - Early Speech Synthesizer VintageCG 2011-04-04 | Considered the first electrical speech synthesizer, VODER (Voice Operation DEmonstratoR) was developed by Homer Dudley at Bell Labs and demonstrated at both the 1939 New York World's Fair and the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. Difficult to use and difficult to operate, VODER nonetheless paved the way for future machine-generated speech.
Wonder Works (1984) VintageCG 2011-03-04 | Someone wrote to ask if I had the opening from "Wonderworks," which was a 1980s collaborative project between Disney and PBS to produce made-for-TV family movies. The good news is that, yes, I do have a copy. The bad news: it's a jittery, poor-quality copy with no audio.
Deja Vu (1987) VintageCG 2011-03-04 | Another popular piece at early computer animation festivals. While the geometry is spartan, "Deja Vu" was notable for its use of subdued and natural colors and light when most work of the period (with exceptions such as Pixar) was heavy on garish colors and chrome. (Note: the low-res pixellated effect part way through is part of the original film, not an encoding error.)
Locomotion Studies - MIT - Karl Sims (1987) VintageCG 2011-03-04 | Pioneering early computer animation work at the MIT Media Lab. Rather than being keyframe animated, the creatures seen here adapt their own gait to suit the terrain. Karl Sims later went on to produce mind-blowing animations such as "Panspermia" at Thinking Machines Corporation.
Mental Images (1987) VintageCG 2011-03-04 | Late eighties CG from Germany, notable at the time as a rare instance of abstract or surreal art in a field where teapots and chrome spheres still dominated. Among the film's creators was John Berton Jr., who remains active as an effects supervisor on some of today's big-budget Hollywood films.
Intelligent Light (1985) VintageCG 2011-03-04 | Demo reel for Intelligent Light, circa 1985. (Note: audio may be muted due to Warner music track, blah blah blah.)
SGI IRIS 2400 (1985) VintageCG 2010-03-07 | BEHOLD the AWESOME POWER of the Silicon Graphics IRIS 2400 workstation. Able to animate DOZENS of flat-shaded polygons at SEVERAL frames per second! Long before SGI's Jurassic Park heyday, their early IRIS 2400 system cost more than a nice condo and came equipped with a 68010 CPU running at a blazing TEN megahertz!
Sogitec Showreel (1985) VintageCG 2010-03-07 | Demo reel of French computer graphics firm Sogitec, circa 1985.
Japan Computer Graphics Lab (1985) VintageCG 2010-03-07 | Third demo reel from the Japan Computer Graphics Lab circa 1985.
Joblove/Kay (1984) VintageCG 2010-03-07 | Showreel for Joblove/Kay, circa 1984. Both went on to pivotal roles in computer graphics, among the founders of ILM's computer graphics department, and continue to work at the forefront of digital media -- George Joblove as Sr. VP of Technology at Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Douglas Kay as Chairman on Mondo Media (also creating the VeggieTales home video series!)
History of Computer Graphics (1972) VintageCG 2010-03-07 | Vintage about vintage! Here's a computer graphics retrospective dating from 1972, as if the pinnacle of technology had been attained.
The Bicycle Company (1984) VintageCG 2010-03-07 | Nostalgia! Past visitors to Los Angeles' Museum of Science and Industry might recall this animation from a Hewlett Packard exhibit dating from 1984. The looping animation was coordinated between two projection screens. Sadly, the exhibit (and many others) are now gone, the museum replaced by the California Science Center, a much larger and more modern building that's mostly empty, with only a scant few inferior and usually broken-down exhibits.
Sketchpad (1963) 3 of 3 - 3D Graphics VintageCG 2010-03-07 | This is part 3 of 3, demonstrating the 3D capabilities of Sketchpad III. Periodically throughout computer history there emerges a "pinch point," a single moment where many prior technologies converge, and upon which many subsequent technologies depend. Herman Hollerith's 1890 census tabulator is one well-known instance. Another, somewhat lesser-known, are Ivan Sutherland's and Tim Johnson’s "Sketchpad" and "Sketchpad III,” respectively, developed at MIT in the early 1960s, running on the transistor-based TX-2 computer. Nearly all interactive graphics applications today can trace their roots back to these pivotal demonstrations. It's considered the first graphical user interface (GUI) at a time when computer graphics of ANY sort were virtually unheard of, let alone the notion that computers could be applied to both artistic and technical purposes.
Sketchpad (1963) 2 of 3 - 2D Graphics VintageCG 2010-03-07 | This is part 2 of 3, demonstrating the 2D capabilities of Sketchpad, including vector scaling and instances. Periodically throughout computer history there emerges a "pinch point," a single moment where many prior technologies converge, and upon which many subsequent technologies depend. Herman Hollerith's 1890 census tabulator is one well-known instance. Another, somewhat lesser-known, are Ivan Sutherland's and Tim Johnson’s "Sketchpad" and "Sketchpad III,” respectively, developed at MIT in the early 1960s, running on the transistor-based TX-2 computer. Nearly all interactive graphics applications today can trace their roots back to these pivotal demonstrations. It's considered the first graphical user interface (GUI) at a time when computer graphics of ANY sort were virtually unheard of, let alone the notion that computers could be applied to both artistic and technical purposes.
Sketchpad (1963) 1 of 3 - Intro and Interview VintageCG 2010-03-07 | This is part 1 of 3, featuring an interview with professor Steven Coons (of Coons patch fame); software is demonstrated in parts 2 and 3. Periodically throughout computer history there emerges a "pinch point," a single moment where many prior technologies converge, and upon which many subsequent technologies depend. Herman Hollerith's 1890 census tabulator is one well-known instance. Another, somewhat lesser-known, are Ivan Sutherland's and Tim Johnson’s "Sketchpad" and "Sketchpad III,” respectively, developed at MIT in the early 1960s, running on the transistor-based TX-2 computer. Nearly all interactive graphics applications today can trace their roots back to these pivotal demonstrations. It's considered the first graphical user interface (GUI) at a time when computer graphics of ANY sort were virtually unheard of, let alone the notion that computers could be applied to both artistic and technical purposes.
Put That There (1980) VintageCG 2010-03-07 | "Put That There" was a pioneering MIT effort studying more natural ways of communicating with computers through gesture, voice and collaboration. These sorts of interactions are commonplace now on home game consoles -- here you see the foundations being laid a full thirty years ago.
Martian Magnolia (1984) VintageCG 2010-03-07 | "A Day in the Life of a Martian Magnolia" is an early (1984) ray traced computer animation produced at Sandia National Laboratories. Old timers may recall a somewhat refined still from Popular Science or IEEE Computer Graphics magazines. Though visually crude by modern standards, this was state-of-the-art at the time, consuming untold hours of rendering effort on some of the fastest machines of the day.
Blit Terminal (1982) VintageCG 2010-03-07 | The Blit terminal (circa 1982) was an early (possibly the first) remote windowing system by which multiple UNIX processes could operate on the same screen. Originating from Bell Labs, it's considered a major influence on MIT's X Window System which still in use on many systems today.
Xerox Mockingbird (1980) VintageCG 2010-03-03 | Mockingbird (circa 1980) is credited as the first screen-based visual notation editor for musicians. The software was a research project of Xerox PARC and was never released commercially. It ran on the Dorado system - a successor to the Xerox Alto, and supposedly host to the famous Smalltalk demo presented to Steve Jobs and Apple engineers that sparked the Lisa and Macintosh interfaces.
Shirogumi Sample Reel (1983) VintageCG 2010-03-03 | Early computer graphics demo reel of Shirogumi Inc. studios of Japan.
Sorting Out Sorting (1980) Excerpt VintageCG 2010-03-03 | "Sorting Out Sorting" is one of the rare landmark films in the field of scientific visualization (e.g. Eames' "Powers of Ten"). Using straightforward animation, it visually illustrates the efficiency of various sorting algorithms. This is an excerpt from the 30 minute film; if this interests you, the full film can be found elsewhere on YouTube, or many live interactive versions now exist on the web.
Pantomation (1977-1979) VintageCG 2010-03-03 | Pantomation was a very early tracking chromakey system from the 1970s. Originally intended for music scoring, the system was adapted to other styles of performance art. While crude by modern standards, the concept was decades ahead of its time; it can reasonably be considered an early forebear of systems like Microsoft's Kinect.
MAGI Synthavision Demo Reel (1980) VintageCG 2010-03-03 | Early (1970s through 1980) demo reel from MAGI/Synthavision, who would later go on to provide many of the CGI effects for the feature film Tron. Mostly television advertising and effects in the early years. Apologies for the lack of audio; YouTube flagged the soundtrack for copyright reasons.
Image West Demo Reel (1981) VintageCG 2010-03-03 | 1981 showreel from Image West, showing extensive use of the Scanimate analog video effects system which heavily influenced the "chrome logos" style of the era. Bonus points for cheesy disco soundtrack!
Tactile Manipulation on a Digital Desk (1991) Xerox VintageCG 2009-12-17 | User interface research from Xerox EuroPARC circa 1991. The sketching segment might be the earliest instance of the multitouch "pinch" gesture (a la iPhone, etc.). Please note that the "Working prototype" segment at the start is real, but the three "Envisionment" sections were scripted demos for the sake of example; the technology of the time was not yet up to the concept.
SCAM: Starving Computer Artists Market (1992) VintageCG 2009-12-16 | Humorous CG short from 1992, poking fun at many of the clichés of computer graphics at the time. Produced at the New York Institute of Technology Fine Arts Center.
Eurythmy Motion Studies (1985) VintageCG 2009-12-16 | Motion studies for the 1989 CG short 'Eurythmy'. Just vector graphics at this early stage, no humanoids, and with some unusual gaits and animal dance moves that didnt make it into the final film. A few folks have written to inquire about the audio track used here. Thanks to io9.com reader casualty.of.science, who identified this as "Qu'ran" by David Byrne and Brian Eno. It appears only on the first edition of their album "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" -- it was removed from later releases in deference to those who regarded it as blasphemous. Thus you won't find it on iTunes or Amazon now, but the full track can be heard here on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-U2nKMGTHY
Eurythmy (1989) VintageCG 2009-12-16 | This computer-animated short from 1989 has appeared in a number of animation compilations since then, sometimes abbreviated or with an alternate soundtrack; this is the full and original version of the film. It was notable at the time for the research done on flocking and animal gaits and transitions.
Xerox Star User Interface (1982) 2 of 2 VintageCG 2009-08-28 | Second half of a demonstration of the Xerox Star user interface from 1982. The Lisa and Mac interfaces that would follow a couple years later are dismissed by some today as being merely a direct ripoff of Xerox's work...but in watching this it becomes apparent that Apple's UI was in fact an evolution of these concepts, not a 1:1 copy. The Star UI has little to no direct manipulation, nor any visual distinction for radio buttons or check boxes. In other places, such as networking and printing, the Star was many years ahead. The Star UI laid the foundation but it was not copied whole cloth as some will claim.
Xerox Star User Interface (1982) 1 of 2 VintageCG 2009-08-28 | First half of a demonstration of the Xerox Star user interface from 1982. The Lisa and Mac interfaces that would follow a couple years later are dismissed by some today as being merely a direct ripoff of Xerox's work...but in watching this it becomes apparent that Apple's UI was in fact an evolution of these concepts, not a 1:1 copy. The Star UI has little to no direct manipulation, nor any visual distinction for radio buttons or check boxes. In other places, such as networking and printing, the Star was many years ahead. The Star UI laid the foundation but it was not copied whole cloth as some will claim.
Voyager: Journey to the Outer Planets (1989) VintageCG 2009-08-26 | A JPL retrospective of the Voyager I and II "Grand Tour" of the outer planets, including many of James Blinn's famous CG flyby simulations. Very inspirational! THIS IS SCIENCE!
Tipsy Turvy (1989) VintageCG 2009-08-26 | 1989 computer animation from IBM - a simulation of flexible brittle objects. Starring THE TEAPOT!
IBM introduces Pointing Stick (TrackPoint) (1990) VintageCG 2009-08-26 | 1990 research film from IBM describing the then-novel "pointing stick" input device. A refined version, marketed as the TrackPoint, would later become standard faire on ThinkPad notebook computers. Somewhat dry, but does provide some interesting background into a technology we now take for granted.
Dont Touch Me (1989) VintageCG 2009-08-26 | Kleiser-Walczak computer animation circa 1989. While this is rubbery and a bit creepy by today's standards, it was quite groundbreaking at the time, making extensive use of then-novel motion capture and facial animation techniques.
Peedee Meets the Dragon (1989) VintageCG 2009-08-26 | Twisted computer animated short from 1989. The fire effect was impressive for the time, created on the massively parallel Connection Machine 2.
Coredump (1989) VintageCG 2009-08-26 | Visually impressive (for 1989, anyway) short film demonstrating particle system animation. Produced at Ohio State University.
Megacycles (1989) VintageCG 2009-08-25 | Short film from AT&T Bell Labs circa 1989, created on the Pixel Machine 964 - a special-purpose computer designed to accelerate ray tracing.
Locomotion (1989) - Pacific Data Images VintageCG 2009-08-25 | Early short film created at Pacific Data Images (later of Shrek, Madagascar fame) circa 1989, has appeared in a computer of computer animation compilations since then. Notable at the time for extensive use of squash-and-stretch and for storytelling and emotion in an era when most CG was still tech demos and chrome logos.
The Little Death (1989) VintageCG 2009-08-25 | Short film created at Symbolics (maybe best known for their earlier "Stanley and Stella") circa 1989. Though plasticky by today's standards, the humanoid figures were quite cutting-edge for the time.
Mars: The Movie (1989) VintageCG 2009-08-25 | 3D terrain animation created at JPL, circa 1989 - a follow-up to their prior film LA: The Movie (which can be viewed among my other uploads here).
Stanley & Stella in Breaking the Ice (1987) VintageCG 2009-08-24 | Another iconic work of 1980s computer animation. "Stanley and Stella in Breaking the Ice" has appeared in countless animation compilations since then, sometimes with an alternate soundtrack (this is the original version). The film was especially novel at the time for using algorithmically-generated flocking and schooling behaviors.
Fabricated Rhythm (1987) VintageCG 2009-08-24 | Early dynamic cloth simulation done at AT&T Bell Labs in 1987, with an awesome '80s soundtrack. This appears to be an abbreviated cut--the version shown at SIGGRAPH that year had additional mannequin footage.
Balloon Guy (1987) - Chris Wedge VintageCG 2009-08-24 | Another of Chris Wedge's early Ohio State University short films. Once again he bucks the then-dominant trend of rigid, mechanical shapes and motion with these extremely flexible characters and classic animation techniques. Wedge would later go on to co-found Blue Sky Studios, best known for the "Robots" and "Ice Age" feature films (also providing the voice of "Scrat" in the latter).
Bio-Sensor (1984) / Sio-Benbor (1988) VintageCG 2009-08-21 | Two shorts for the price of one! Bio-Sensor (1984) is a surreal Japanese film notable for its early use of primitive motion capture, using profile and head-on films of a tiger walking (a la Muybridge). Sio-Benbor (1988) is a French parody notable for having a really cute kitty cat.
Rhythm & Hues Showreel (1988) VintageCG 2009-08-21 | Demo reel for Rhythm & Hues computer animation, circa 1988. Very sorry for the muted soundtrack...apparently contained some Warner audio content.
Polly Gone (1988) VintageCG 2009-08-21 | The second worst computer animation ever produced...I'm only including it here because the soundtrack is awesome.
Particle Dreams (1988) VintageCG 2009-08-21 | Early (1988) particle system animations. You may have seen some or all of these before in various computer animation compilations, usually set to different music.
Natural Phenomena (1988) VintageCG 2009-08-21 | Natural simulation work created at Alias Research in 1988. Includes the rare and elusive short, "Eric the Dynamic Worm."
Close Encounter in the Fourth Dimension (1988) VintageCG 2009-08-21 | 3D fractal fly-through created at IBM in 1988.
