Week 4 3D

 Historical highlights of 3D Graphics.

There are a lot of important highlights in the field of 3D graphics along with advances in 3D graphics. A man by the name of William Fetter, an art director at the Boeing Company created the Boeing man in 1964. The reason why this is important is because he was the first to create three-dimensional (3D) images of the human body using a computer. The second highlight of 3D graphics was by Frederic Parke who created 3D human face in 1972 and Edwin Catmull created a 3D hand for the animated film A Computer Animated Hand (1972), made by both Frederic Parke and Edwin Catmull. The next highlight actually ties back to the short animation A Computer Animated Hand (1972), this highlight is the film Futureworld (1976) the first major feature film to use generated images (CGI), which featured the 3D human face and hand by Edwin Catmull & Frederic Parke, fun little fact is that the director of Futureworld (1976) actually saw the short animation by Edwin Catmull & Frederic Parke and wanted to incorporate it into his film. The fourth highlight is the usage of many different uses of 3D for the film Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), the two most renowned highlights of 3D graphics of Star Wars, was the usage of an animated wire frame graphic for the trench run briefing scene, the second highlight of 3D graphics is the usage of vector graphics to make the targeting display inside the fighters as seen in the image below.  

Rebel Alliance X/Y-Wing Targeting Computer (N.A.)

The fifth highlight of 3D graphics is the combination of live action and computer animation in the film Tron (1982). The 3D graphics used in Tron (1982), was the first extensive use of 15 minutes of 3D CGI, including the famous Light Cycle sequence (refer to the 1^st image below), and also very early facial animation for the Master Control Program (refer to the 2^nd image below).

Light Cycle Scene (1982).

Master Control Program (1982).

The sixth highlight once again coming from a film is the ground breaking computer graphics, visual images and special effects used in Terminator 2 (1991). The reason why Terminator 2 (1991) is used a 3D graphic highlight is because it has the first realistic human movements on a CGI character, the T-1000 Terminator (as seen in the image below). 

T-1000 Terminator (1991).

The seventh highlight of 3D graphics usage in history is from one of the most iconic films and probably still the best one around even now, Jurassic Park (1993). The film Jurassic Park (1993) used realistic 3D dinosaurs, most of the time you can’t even tell they are fake because of how well the film itself is put together. The eight most iconic highlight of 3D graphics used in industries is the 3D animated film Toy Story (1995), this is important for it is considered to be the first animated feature generated completely on computers, and has paved the way for animation studios. The ninth highlight for 3D graphics and most conically known as the worst film made is Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), which featured the attempt at photo realistic CGI humans. The reason why Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) failed and became known as a negative due to many reasons, but one of them is because it causes the human mind to look at the characters as if they are re-animated corpses. The last historical highlight of 3D graphics usage is an iconic film; Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (2002), the reason why is because of the creation of the character Gollum. The character Gollum was created by using photo realistic motion capture, and this was also the first time photo realistic motion capture was used for film. Due to the success of motion capture and how realistic one can make 3D characters look through the combination of motion capture and 3D animators it is still used heavily in the film and video game industry.

3D Modeller/ Concept artist that inspire me.

One particular artist whom I didn’t pay much attention to in 2011 on deviant art turned out to be actually the only 3D modeller/ concept artist that I know out of my head that inspires me, that artist’s name is Alexey Pyatov, whom goes by the artist name of KaranaK. The piece of work that inspired me was the video game Star Conflict published by Gaijin Entertainment (2014), a futuristic sci-fi spaceship battle game. Alexey’s role in this was that he was hired as a concept artist to create the concept art for several various ships, such as the “Maelstrom” aircraft carrier dreadnought, the strike fighter “Maned wolf”, medium fighter “Cougar”, heavy assault fighter/ gunship “Stegosaurus” and medium fighter “Lion MK2”, along with various other spacecraft/ spaceship concept work for Star Conflict. Some examples of his work that I’ve mentioned are shown in the images below.

 Maelstrom (2012).

Maned Wolf (2013).

Cougar (2013).

Stegosaurus (2012).

Lion MK2 (2012)

I’ve always been very impressed by his design of the ships as well as the technicality that is incorporated in all of his mechanical artworks. Alexey is currently still working on making vehicles and weaponry as a concept artist and 3D modeller, and recently I have discovered another piece of concept art that I absolutely love, as it incorporates a massive amount of more detail compared to his older works, showing that over the years he has been improving quite heavily. Again one of his older work, but heavily impressive is the piece of concept art that I absolutely love, the butcher class heavy gunship CS-35M, as seen in the image below.

Butcher Class Heavy Gun-ship (2014).

References:

Arnold, B. (Producer) & Lasseter, J. (Director/ Writer). (1995) Toy Story [Motion picture]. Burbank: CA. Walt Disney Pictures.

Arkoff, S. (Producer) & Heffron, R. (Director). (1976). Futureworld [Motion picture]. Los Angeles, CA: American International Pictures.

Catmull, E. (Producer/ Director) & Parke, F. (Producer/ Director). (1972). A computer animated hand [DVD]. University of Utah, UT: Author.

Cameron, J. (Producer/ Director) & Wisher, W. (Writer). (1991). Terminator 2: Judgement Day [Motion picture]. Culver City: CA. TriStar Pictures.

Fetter, W. (1964). Boeing man [Image]. Retrieved from http://courses.washington.edu/eatreun/html/history/h_nw.html

Pyatov, A. (2012). Lion MK2 [Image]. Retrieved from http://karanak.deviantart.com/art/Lion-MK2-279522713

Pyatov, A. (2012). Maelstrom [Image]. Retrieved from http://karanak.deviantart.com/art/Maelstrom-290609062

Pyatov, A. (2012). Stegosaurus [Image]. Retrieved from http://karanak.deviantart.com/art/Stegosaurus-277734014

Pyatov, A. (2013). Cougar [Image]. Retrieved from http://karanak.deviantart.com/art/Cougar-389146781

Pyatov, A. (2013). Maned wolf [Image]. Retrieved from http://karanak.deviantart.com/art/Maned-wolf-389409256

Pyatov, A. (2014). Butcher Class Heavy Gun-ship [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8wdqw

Pyxurz. (N.A.). T-1000 Terminator [Image]. Retrieved from http://pyxurz.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/terminator-2-judgment-day-page-6-of-14.html

Sakaguchi, H. (Director) & Reinert, A. (Writer). (2001). Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within [Motion picture]. Honolulu: Hawaii. Square Pictures.

Spielberg, S. (Producer) & Crichton, M. (Writer) (1993). Jurassic Park [Motion picture]. Universal City: CA. Universal Studios.

StarGem Inc. (2014). Star Conflict [PC]. Moscow: Gaijin Entertainment.

Suide, C. (2015). Master Control Program [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.scifimoviepage.com/sci-fi-nerd-freaky-friday-tron-the-quiet-revolution/

Varyag, J. (N.A.). Rebel Alliance X/Y-Wing Targeting System [Image]. Retrieved from https://au.pinterest.com/pin/248612841904957196/