The personal computer was born not for entertainment, email or video games, but to solve a serious number-crunching crisis. By 1880, the U.S. population had grown so large that it took more than seven years to tabulate the U.S. Census results! The government was looking for a faster way to get the job done, a practical problem that eventually paved the way for punch-card based computers that took up entire rooms.
Though those early computers weren’t designed with high-end graphics in mind, they nonetheless became more and more complex over time, to a point where a smartphone today is infinitely more powerful than any of the early room-sized computers.
Prehistory & Early History
The foundations of computer graphics can be traced to artistic and mathematical “inventions.” The Greek mathematician Euclid’s formulation of geometry, for example, provided a basis for graphics concepts. René Descartes, who developed analytic geometry, delivered a foundation for describing the location and shape of objects in space. James Joseph Sylvester invented matrix notation, which computer graphics use extensively.
The true beginning of computer graphics comes from the SAGE computer system, which was designed to support military preparedness. Initially an effort to build a flight simulator, SAGE was supposed to provide an air defense system that guarded the United States against the threat of a nuclear attack. The SAGE workstation had a vector display and light pens that operators would use to pinpoint planes flying over the United States.
The 60s
Computer graphics really emerged during the 1960s. At the time, anti-aliased lines, circles and curve drawing, which we now consider rudimentary operations, were major topics in computer graphics. The early work of Pierre Bézier on parametric curves and surfaces became public, and IBM developed hidden surface and shadow algorithms that were pre-cursors to ray tracing. Doug Englebart invented the computer mouse.
The 70s
Rendering (shading) were discovered by Gouraud and Phong at the University of Utah. Keyframe-based animation for 3D graphics was demonstrated for the first time. Xerox PARC developed a “paint” program. Ed Catmull introduced the z-buffer algorithm and Turned Whitted developed recursive ray tracing that later became the standard for photorealism. Arcade games, such as Pong and Pac-Man, became extremely popular. Many were highly impressed by Pac-Man’s graphics!
The 80s
Near the mid-1980s, Jim Blinn introduced blobby models and texture mapping concepts. Computer Aided Design courses began to be taught at various universities. Binary space partitioning (BSP) trees were introduced as a data structure, but not many realized how useful they would become. Several artists began exploring fractals in computer graphics. The goal for 3D software became character animation, rather than simply rendering. Adobe brought its Photoshop software to the market. Video games took off, in the process creating a need for better computer graphics, and easier software to use.
The 90s
In 1992, OpenGL became the standard for graphics APIs. Dynamical systems that allowed animation with collisions, gravity, friction, and cause and effects were introduced. The first CAD College was opened. PC graphics cards, like 3dfx and Nvidia, were introduced. Motion capture, which began with the data glove, became a primary method for generating animation sequences. Graphics effects in movies, such as Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and Toy Story, became omnipresent. As we moved into the 21st century, online CAD courses became available, blending design and technology to create new frontiers in architecture, engineering and much more. What will come next?
