History of AI - innovation of film, computer graphics & animation
“Art challenges technology, technology inspires art”
—Catmull and Wallace, 2014
Film as an artistic medium has its roots in various earlier traditions, including storytelling, literature, theatre, and visual arts. For instance, ancient traditions such as Cantastoria involved combining storytelling with a series of images displayed or indicated sequentially. Furthermore, light and shadows were utilized to create art forms that predate modern film technology.
The history of filmmaking and technology highlights the significance of collaboration between artists and technologists, each inspiring and pushing the other to greater heights. During the early days of photography, most photographers had to be both artists and technologists, constantly experimenting with new techniques to enhance their art. However, in film and animation, this interaction has become even more integral to the art form.
The development of film as a visual art form using film technologies began in the late 19th century, and its exact origins are not well-defined. However, the public screening of ten of the Lumière brothers' short films in Paris on 28 December 1895 is often considered the breakthrough moment for projected cinematographic motion pictures, marking the emergence of film as a commercially viable medium.
The history of film technology is as diverse and complex as the art form itself, with early inventions and innovations playing a crucial role in making it possible. Even before the creation of photography, film's roots can be traced back to 1832 with the development of the phenakistoscope. This early device featured a rotating disk with sequential drawings of moving objects. At the same time, the zoetrope, which came shortly after, used a rotating drum with images on the inside to create a similar effect. These devices captivated audiences with short animations that played continuously, effectively telling a moving story.
A series of 8 Eadweard Muybridge photographs of a man riding a horse, the third one showing that all four of the horses hooves do in fact lift up off of the ground at the same time during the gallop
To demonstrate that horses lifted all four hooves off the ground during a gallop, a racehorse breeder in California hired the services of photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Muybridge used multiple cameras to take successive photos of the horses in motion, then mounted on a rotating disk and projected on a screen, effectively creating the first "moving picture". Interestingly, this was also the same year that Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, a device designed for recording and reproducing sound. In 1888, Edison tasked his lab assistant, Dickson, with inventing a motion picture camera to complement the phonograph's audio capabilities, which resulted in the creation of the kinetograph.
The Lumière brothers unveiled the cinématographe in 1895, a lightweight and portable device that could function as a camera, projector, and printer. Their debut film, "Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory," was one of the earliest examples of moving pictures. The Lumière brothers also ventured into various camera technologies, colour processing, and creative techniques to utilize them.
Interestingly, throughout film history, more art tinkerers and collaborative teams of artists and technologists have contributed to its evolution. Another example is The stage magician George Méliès, who filmed fantastical stories like A “Trip to the Moon”, employing a wide range of clever in-camera tricks to create delightfully inventive and beguiling films and Walt Disney, who used and pushed new technologies of sound and color recording, and drove other innovations along the way, such as the multiplane camera.
Technological developments in the art of filmmaking (a) the first captured film, of workers leaving the Lumiere Brother’s factory (1895), (b) George Méliès’ 1902 “A trip to the Moon” filmed like a stage play but with fantastical special effect, (c) Citizen Kane, which used numerous experimental camera and lens effects to tell the story © Public domain images
Orson Welles' pioneering film techniques were primarily facilitated by the use of new camera lenses by his cinematographer, Gregg Toland. The advent of portable cameras and audio equipment allowed the French New Wave to experiment with film techniques, which, in turn, influenced up-and-coming American directors such as Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Despite working with a limited budget, Lucas and his team on Star Wars were early pioneers of various visual effects, such as creating the sound effect for the "blaster" by hitting telephone guy-wires, as well as innovators in digital film editing and compositing, as noted by Rubin in 2005.
Since then, digital and computer graphics technology have revolutionized how stories are told in the film. Directors such as Michel Gondry and James Cameron have pushed these technologies to unforeseen limits, introducing new techniques and styles of storytelling. With each new development, filmmakers rapidly adopt these technologies to transform the medium again.
Computer Animation (from the 1940s to the present day)
History of computer graphics, 1972
The history of computer animation can be traced back to the 1940s and 1950s when pioneers like John Whitney began experimenting with computer graphics. Nowadays, it's hard to find a recent film that doesn't use some form of 3D animation technology, including Tenet, Dune, and Marvel movies. The combination of live-action and 3D animation is seamlessly integrated into these films.
John Whitney, Sr. was a prominent figure in computer animation and is considered one of its pioneers. He and his brother James created experimental films in the 1940s and 1950s using a custom-built device from old anti-aircraft analogue computers. The device controlled the motion of lights and lit objects, making it the first example of motion-control photography. Whitney is best known for the animated title sequence in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, which he collaborated on with graphic designer Saul Bass. He established Motion Graphics Inc in 1960, which produced titles for film and TV while continuing to create experimental works. His motion control model photography was used in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968 and the slit-scan photography technique used in the film's "Star Gate" finale.
"Kitten" computer animation, 1968
In the 1960s, the establishment of digital computers opened up new possibilities for computer graphics. While initially used for scientific and engineering purposes, artistic experimentation emerged by the mid-1960s, led by Dr Thomas Calvert. One of the earliest programmable digital computers was SEAC, which introduced a drum scanner in 1957 that created the first digital image by scanning a photograph of Russell Kirsch's son. The team could extract line drawings, count objects, recognize character types, and display digital images on an oscilloscope screen with the computer. This breakthrough paved the way for subsequent computer imaging and highlighted the significance of this first digital photograph.
In Sweden, a 49-second vector animation was created on the BESK computer showing a car traveling down a planned highway, using a specially designed digital oscilloscope and camera controlled by the computer. This short animation was broadcast on national television. At the same time, Bell Labs in New Jersey was a leading research contributor in computer graphics, animation, and electronic music. Researchers like Edward Zajac, Michael Noll, and Ken Knowlton established themselves as pioneering computer artists.
Ivan Sutherland is credited with creating Interactive Computer Graphics and is an internet pioneer. He created Sketchpad I while working at the Lincoln Laboratory in 1962. This program was the first Graphical User Interface that enabled users to interact directly with images on the screen. Sketchpad I is regarded as one of the most significant computer programs ever created by an individual.
In 1963, Edward Zajac created A Two Gyro Gravity Gradient attitude control System, one of the first computer-generated films, at Bell Labs. It demonstrated how a satellite could permanently be stabilized to face the Earth while orbiting. Ken Knowlton also developed the Beflix animation system in 1963, which used simple "graphic primitives" to produce dozens of artistic films by artists such as Stan VanDerBeek, Knowlton, and Lillian Schwartz. Meanwhile, William Fetter, a graphic designer for Boeing, developed ergonomic descriptions of the human body in 1964, resulting in the first 3D wire-frame figures. These figures, known as the "Boeing Man," became iconic in the early history of computer graphics.
Michael Noll created early computer-generated 3D movies in 1965, including stereographic and four-dimensional hyper-objects. By 1967, he used 4D animation to create computer-animated title sequences for films and TV specials.
Charles Csuri, Chaos to Order (Hummingbird), 1967, drawing, b/w, computer-generated © Charles Csuri
Charles Csuri was also one of the pioneers of computer animation. As a professor, fine artist, and computer scientist, his research and artistic vision led to advances in software that created new artistic tools for 3D computer graphics, computer animation, gaming, and 3D printing, all before their widespread commercial applications. In the early days of his career, Csuri's art consisted of his drawings and sketches, which he made in order to mathematically transform them using analog and digital technologies.
One of the best examples of his early period is the “Chaos to Order” (1967). The creation process for the artwork involved the use of random distribution techniques, where each line of the bird was placed at random positions within the composition. The computer then generated a chaotic version of the hummingbird, with lines and shapes overlapping and intersecting in a seemingly haphazard manner. Csuri then in progressive stages, brought the bird back together, manipulating the random placement of lines and shapes to create a more coherent and recognizable image of a hummingbird.
A group of Soviet physicists and mathematicians, led by Nikolai Konstantinov, created a mathematical model for the motion of a cat in 1968. They used a BESM-4 computer to develop a program that solved the ordinary differential equations for this model. Using alphabet symbols, the computer printed hundreds of frames on paper, later filmed sequentially, resulting in the first-ever computer animation of a character - a walking cat.
The art journal Studio International published a special issue titled "Cybernetic Serendipity – The Computer and the Arts" in July 1968. The issue showcased a comprehensive collection of computer art from organizations worldwide, exhibited in London, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. This event was a milestone in the development of computer art and is widely regarded as a source of inspiration. Notable examples of computer art from this period include "Chaos to Order" by Charles Csuri and "Running Cola is Africa" by Masao Komura and Koji Fujino.
The movie “Westworld”, 1973
Towards 3D: mid-1970s into the 1980s
The 1973 sci-fi movie Westworld was the first to use digital image processing. The Gunslinger android's perspective was portrayed as pixelated through motion picture photography digitally processed by John Whitney Jr. and Gary Demos at Information International, Inc. They used the Technicolor Three-strip Process to separate each frame of the source images by colour, convert them into rectangular blocks according to their tone values, and output them back to film as cinegraphic block portraiture.
Home computers saw the introduction of 3D computer graphics software in the late 1970s, including the first known example, 3D Art Graphics, by Kazumasa Mitazawa for Apple II in 1978. Disney's 1979 film The Black Hole used wireframe rendering created by Disney engineers to depict the black hole. Ridley Scott's Alien used wireframe graphics for navigation monitors the same year. The 1980s brought further advancements in hardware, such as framebuffer technologies, which combined with improved computer power and affordability to enable radical new developments in commercial graphics workstations.
From the 1990s to now, computer animation has expanded in film and TV
In the 1990s, CGI technology had advanced enough for major film and TV production use. 1991 was a significant year with two box-office hits utilizing CGI. James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day was one of them. In 1993, Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park was another milestone, integrating 3D CGI dinosaurs with life-sized animatronic models.
Computer animation is thriving in various industries today, providing more opportunities for animators than ever before. The story of computer animation contradicts the idea that art and technology conflict, as they often work together to evolve and grow an art form. A great example of success is Pixar Animation Studios, pioneering 3D computer animation as an art form achieved through close collaboration between artists and engineers. Pixar's culture treats both groups as crucial to the company's success, resulting in years of technical and creative innovation and commercial and artistic success.
As technology advances, 3D animation is expected to improve its capabilities and complexity significantly. AI and machine learning hold immense potential in accelerating the animating process, paving the way for exploring a wider array of animation styles.