| The use of computer graphics can be traced as | | | | industries. However, such advancement in digital |
| far back as 1940, when Jay Forrester at M.I.T. | | | | technology had not captivated the field of |
| designed equipment for training new pilots. The | | | | architecture. The main reason for the delay was |
| digital computer was chosen as the ideal | | | | perhaps the high cost associated with CAD |
| instrument, because of its adaptability and the | | | | systems at the time. |
| flexibility with which the machine could be | | | | Major corporations such as TRW, General Electric, |
| programmed. It was not until a few years later | | | | Lockheed-Georgia and Sperry Rand began to use |
| that a radar defense system project named | | | | computer graphics. IBM introduced the first |
| Whirlwind showed the first practical use of | | | | commercially available graphics computer, the IBM |
| computer graphics (see fig. 1.2). Whirlwind is a | | | | 2250 graphics terminal, as a result of the new |
| computer linked to radar sites, and it displays an | | | | found interest in computer graphics. |
| electronic map of the location on its monitor with | | | | In 1963, the mouse was being invented by Doug |
| plot blips that represent incoming airplanes. | | | | Englebart of the Stanford Research Institute. At |
| Whirlwind is the first vacuum-tube computer | | | | the same time, the digitizing tablet was being |
| capable of drawing lines and points on a computer | | | | developed. Both the mouse and the digitizing |
| screen. | | | | tablet are 2D point devices; therefore you need |
| In 1958, an experimental filmmaker, John Whitney, | | | | to switch X and Y coordinates to access a Z |
| Sr.,created a short animation by using the analog | | | | coordinate. True 3D pointing devices come at a |
| computer to control the movement of the | | | | high cost, which is a major reason why the |
| character. Whitney used the same system to | | | | mouse is still a popular pointing device today. |
| create the opening title sequence of Alfred | | | | Products such as Spaceball by 3Dconnexion or 3D |
| Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Later Whitney and his | | | | Controller by Logitech prove effective in 3D |
| brother produced more films based on similar | | | | space. These products enable the user to pan, |
| techniques. | | | | zoom and rotate 3D models with accurate control |
| In 1957, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) | | | | of the design process. |
| opened its company with only three employees. | | | | To follow is a list of important events in the |
| Three years later, DEC introduced the PDP-1 | | | | 1960s that profoundly affected the future of |
| (Programmed Data Processor), the world’s | | | | computer graphics. |
| first small interactive computer (see Fig. 1.3). DEC | | | | 1961- Whitney produced the title sequence for |
| has played a huge role in the development of | | | | Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo by using an analog |
| computer graphics. “The Programmed Data | | | | computer. |
| Processor (PDP-1) is a high-speed, solid state digital | | | | 1963- Doug Englebart invented the world’s |
| computer designed to operate with many types | | | | first mouse. At about the same time, the digitizing |
| of input-output devices with no internal machine | | | | tablet was developed. |
| changes. It is a single address, single instruction, | | | | 1966- Ralph Baer at Sanders Associates created |
| and stored program computer with powerful | | | | a first video game for consumers. The same |
| program features. Five-megacycle circuits, a | | | | year, Sutherland at MIT invented the |
| magnetic core memory and fully parallel | | | | computer-controlled head-mounted display |
| processing make possible a computation rate of | | | | system. Many years later, this device is being |
| 100,000 additions per second. The PDP-1 is | | | | used for virtual reality study. |
| unusually versatile. | | | | 1968- Evan and Sutherland created the LDS-1 |
| IBM helped General Motors to develop DAC-1 to | | | | (Line Drawing System) for hardware-accelerated |
| showcase General Motors’ automobiles at the | | | | graphics. LDS-1 is more than 100 times faster |
| Joint Computer Conference in Detroit in 1964. The | | | | than the IBM 2250. |
| breakthrough came when Ivan Sutherland at M.I.T. | | | | If the 1960s were an era of experimentation in |
| created a computer drawing program called | | | | computer graphics, the 1970s saw the birth of |
| Sketchpad in 1961. Sketchpad is the father of all | | | | the personal computer. Many theories brought |
| CAD programs. Sutherland created this sketching | | | | computer graphics to a new level of realism. In |
| program for his doctoral thesis at M.I.T. Lincoln | | | | 1974, Ed Catmull discovered texture mapping, |
| Laboratory. Sketchpad allowed users to draw | | | | z-buffers and rendering curved surfaces in his Ph. |
| simple shapes on the computer with a light pen. | | | | D. thesis in computer science. |
| The light pen used a small photoelectric cell in its | | | | In 1971, Phong Bui-Toung at Utah developed a |
| tip to emit an electronic pulse when the pen was | | | | new shading method that was an improvement |
| placed in front of a computer screen. Many | | | | on the old Gouraud-shading. Phong’s shading |
| software companies still use Sutherland’s | | | | method accurately renders the colors on a mesh |
| Sketchpad program’s interface today. This | | | | surface and produces accurate reflective surface |
| was the first instance in the history of computer | | | | shading, but both Gouraud and Phong’s |
| graphics that demonstrated the possibility of | | | | shadings have difficulties in smoothing over the |
| Computer Aided Drafting and Design (CADD). | | | | outline edge of a 3D object. |
| Sutherland’s Sketchpad was a perfect | | | | In 1976, James Blinn of Utah developed a new |
| example of vector-based graphics comprising lines | | | | technique called Bump mapping. Bump mapping |
| rather than being based on pixels. | | | | can simulate the roughness of a surface by |
| The first video game was created by a student, | | | | interpreting a grey scale map. |
| Steve Russel, at M.I.T. in 1961. Spacewar was the | | | | Today you don’t need to develop your own |
| world’s first video arcade game that was | | | | 3D software in order to render realistic images. |
| written for the DEC’s PDP-1. Later DEC | | | | You don’t have to be a millionaire to purchase |
| packaged Spacewar with every new unit, so the | | | | a computer that runs 3D software. Creating |
| world’s first video game was run on DEC. By | | | | computer rendering is not an impossible dream, |
| the end of the 1960s, CADD began to appear in | | | | but a reality. |
| the mechanical, civil, chemical, and automobile | | | | |