Brothers James and John Whitney, Sr. began making abstract experimental animation in the 1940s using complex mechanical devices. By the early 1960s, John Whitney was using digital computers to continue his work. He was one of only a few serious

The Shrine Auditorium once again rolls out the red carpet for a special premiere: SIGGRAPH's 93-minute documentary, The Story of Computer Graphics. The film is set to debut on Sunday, August 8, as part of the SIGGRAPH Conference's opening night celebration. Seating for the 8:30 p.m. premiere is open to all badged attendees on an 'availability' basis -- so arrive early to assure your spot at the screening!

An In-depth Account
Too often, historians are faced with the task of documenting events that occurred many years ago, long after the pioneers and many of the original artifacts are gone. However, SIGGRAPH's documentarians tried to overcome this problem by documenting the history of computer graphics before too much time has slipped away. Their account of the 45-year history of computer graphics includes interviews with over fifty pioneers in the industry, as it traces the evolution of today's technology back to its early days. Highlights include Star Wars creator George Lucas, Bell Lab's Ken Knowlton, Pixar's Ed Catmull, ILM's Jim Morris, early scientific visualization researcher Jim Blinn, television computer graphics pioneer Robert Abel, and John Whitney, Sr., considered by many to be the 'father' of computer graphics.

One of the first uses of computer graphics was to track enemy aircraft. The system above is called SAGE which is an acronym for Automatic Ground Environment. It was being used as early as 1953.

Also included in the film is never-before screened documentary and computer-generated footage, reaching back more than four decades. Viewers will be surprised to see a report being given by Edward R. Murrow in the early 1950s, discussing the future of computer graphics! Wide-ranging in its scope, the documentary then moves on to cover everything from weather patterns, flight simulation, and surgery to the latest animated effects found in theatrical feature films. The film's director is Frank Foster, Senior Vice President of Sony Pictures Imageworks, whose credits include the feature films Jumanji, Speed and Contact. He explains that the creators of the documentary thought of their work as storytelling, as its title suggests; he says, "We delve into history, but stick to the story." Bringing together such a vast array of computer graphics materials was "a big challenge," according to Foster, who tells how the film's content was determined: "SIGGRAPH is a very democratic organization. For this project, we had a content committee of about a dozen pioneers who advised us on what to include. Our script, written by Judson Rosebush, went through a review process as we decided how to structure the film. Of course, you can't put in everything from the entire period -- you couldn't even include all the developments from the last year in a ninety-minute film! In the process, we shot over seventy interviews, including pioneers in the field as well as leading figures in the industry today."