Scientific visualization is perhaps the most compelling intersection of science and art. In many a SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater — that great bastion of new and remarkable computer graphics achievements — we've watched various interpretations of the scientific universe. Just last year, we got to take a trip through a DNA strand via the Molecular Visualizations presentation, and a couple years ago we embarked on an incredible journey through time. As I've been fortunate to be involved in more than a few Electronic Theater jury meetings, I've seen that there still isn't enough great sci-viz out there (though I can't wait to see what's in store for us at this year's Electronic Theater), so I guess this is where I make my plea to scientists and artists to talk to each other even more and create some really great images for us: it helps us understand the compelling universes we both contain and inhabit. OK, so that sounded a bit too grade school, but who out there remembers that really cool Monsanto ride at Disneyland forever ago, the one that simulated a trek through microscopic world? (Please don't tell me you're all too young: that would be beyond depressing.) And, according to an article in this very publication, CG is no longer necessarily taught only in animation schools, but it's a tool used to teach everything from medicine to driver's education.

Speaking of the car you drive (shameless transition), we are all totally aware that cars find their first realities in CG, and then make their way through concept to the car show (though I wish they'd make some of those into hybrid convertibles I could actually drive!). For decades even this process has been intercepted and reinterpreted for our entertainment. Most recently there have been the Audi RSQ for I, Robot and Harald Belker's Lexus 2054 for Minority Report. You can go back to Batman, of course, or 1982 when the incomparable Syd Mead designed the Spinner for Blade Runner. I just wonder which we'll be driving first (and, of course, I wonder when we'll get to actually customize our car the way we can customize a Nike or Vans shoe online).

Naturally, computer graphics transcends these accessible consumer industries to those we barely know about; or if we know about them, we may not get to see much of their product. Consider the military. Regardless of your (or my) opinions, it's indisputable that the budgets available to the military allow for some pretty extraordinary development. Much like rapid prototyping makes computer graphics models tangible, robotics renders them interactive. Irobot, the same company who makes mine-seeking robots for the military, manufactures the really cool Roomba, a vacuum cleaner that can determine the dimensions of your room. There are robots in space, robots in our kids' rooms and, if you're truly lucky (or addicted to toys), Aibo (or the SDR) doing silly pet tricks in your den.

With so many facets of our lives informing or being informed by computer graphics, it's no wonder that so many of us adore and pursue the world of bits and bytes. With all of this development, it's only a matter of time before CG moves permanently off our movie screens and desktops and into our living rooms. Increasingly, 3D is quickly becoming something you can hold in the palm of your hand and interact with, adding yet another really cool dimension to 3D. No wonder we love this business.

Jill Smolin has been a grateful member of the visual effects industry for about a decade, and has documented the industry (before it was one) for about twice that long.