#early cgi

1. The Utah Teapot.

You’ll probably recognize this teapot. It’s a real teapot that was digitized, though the 3D model is a little squished from its real life counterpart. Because of its unique shape, it made a nice benchmark testing object for programming shaders. Since its creation it’s become a bit of a 3D animation meme. You’ll find it everywhere, from being in video games to being in Toy Story.

2. 1972 Digitized Hand.

This is one of the first organic shapes digitized and animated. In Caine’s office there are a bunch of 3D objects that reference 3D animation history, and high up on a shelf you can see a large hand sculpture.

3. Quest.

I don’t have any definitive proof if this is a reference or not, but a lot of Caine’s paintings and behind his office remind me a lot of the temples and pillars lined with primitive shapes from this early cgi short film.

4. Reboot.

The first ever 3D animated kids cartoon. Premiered between 1994-2001. The plot should sound eerily familiar: The show takes place inside the digital world of a computer. The city of mainframe is populated by detailed sprites (humanoid characters) and low detailed biomes (ones and zeros). A virus named Megabyte tries to take over the city, but is constantly thwarted by the guardian program Bob from the supercomputer. Occasionally an all-mighty unseen “user” inputs games which appear as giant neighborhood destroying purple cubes that fall from the sky. If the citizens of mainframe can’t beat the user in these games, they’ll get nullified and turned into shapeless slugs forever. Bob wants to know what’s beyond the confines of the computer world and meet the user one day.