CGI - A Brief Overview

CGI, or Computer Generated Images, have been used in films since the late 1970's, starting with Westworld in 1973. This film used 2D bit-mapped images created by digital artists to create a POV shot of a robot. Quite a simple but effective technique requires little effort unlike the CGI used today.

The first use of 3D CGI was in the sequel to Westworld, Futureworld from 1976. This film used 3D CGI to model and animate a CG version of Peter Fonda's face and hand. Created by the special effects company Triple I, this marked one of the first uses of 3D CGI in a film.

George Lucas' Star Wars Episode VI: A New Hope was one of the first feature length films to make use of extensive CGI to create visual effects. The main CG sequence used was the training briefing video of the Death Star trench assault. It was a basic unshaded/untextured 3D wireframe model. A later 1997 re-release saw extra CGI effects and other special effects enhanced or added.

These films were the origins of CGI which would later be used more and more frequently as technology developed.

I will go further into GCI techniques in my next post.