Introduction - Computer Animation: Algorithms and Techniques - page 24

In 1973, the first computer-language-based key-frame animation system, ANTICS, was developed
by Alan Kitching at the Atlas Computer Laboratory under the auspices of the Royal College of Art in
the United Kingdom. [ 19 ] [ 20 ]. ANTICS is a Fortran software package specifically designed for ani-
mators and graphic designers. It is a two-dimensional system that provides capabilities analogous to
traditional cel animation.
In the mid-1970s, Norm Badler at the University of Pennsylvania conducted investigations into
posing a human figure. He developed a constraint system to move the figure from one pose to another.
He has continued this research and established the Center for Human Modeling and Simulation at the
University of Pennsylvania. Jack is a software package developed at the center that supports the posi-
tioning and animation of anthropometrically valid human figures in a virtual world [ 7 ].
In the late 1970s, the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) produced several computer ani-
mation systems, thanks to individuals such as Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith [ 24 ] . At the end of the
1970s, NYIT embarked on an ambitious project to produce a wholly computer-generated feature film
using three-dimensional computer animation, titled The Works . While the project was never completed,
excerpts were shown at several SIGGRAPH conferences as progress was made. The excerpts demon-
strated high-quality rendering, jointed figures, and interacting objects. The system used at NYIT was
BBOP, a three-dimensional key-frame figure animation system [ 40 ].
In 1974, the first computer animation nominated for an Academy Award, Hunger , was produced by
Rene Jodoin; it was directed and animated by Peter Foldes. This piece used a 2½ D system that
depended heavily on object shape modification and line interpolation techniques [ 6 ] . The system
was developed by Nestor Burtnyk and Marceli Wein at the National Research Council of Canada
in conjunction with the National Film Board of Canada. Hunger was the first animated story using
computer animation.
In the early 1980s Daniel Thalmann and Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann started work in computer ani-
mation at the University of Montreal [ 24 ] . Over the years, their labs have produced several impressive
animations, including Dream Flight

(N. Magnenat-Thalmann, D. Thalmann, P. Bergeron, 1982),

Tony de Peltrie (P. Bergeron, 1985), and Rendez-vous a` Montre´al (N. Magnenat-Thalmann and

D. Thalmann, 1987).
Others who advanced computer animation during this period were Ed Emshwiller at NYIT, who
demonstrated moving texture maps in Sunstone (1979); Jim Blinn, who produced the Voyager flyby
animations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1979); Don Greenberg, who used architectural walk-
throughs of the Cornell University campus (1971); and Nelson Max at the Education Development
Center, who animated space-filling curves (1972).
Commercial efforts at computer animation first occurred in the late 1960s with Lee Harrison's
SCANIMATE system based on analog computing technology [ 36 ]. Digital technology soon took over
and the mid- to late-1970s saw the first serious hints of commercial three-dimensional digital computer
animation. Tom DeFanti developed the GRASS at Ohio State University (1976), a derivative of which
was used in the computer graphics sequences of the first Star Wars film (1977). In addition to Star
Wars , films such as Future World (1976), Alien (1979), and Looker

12 (1981) began to incorporate sim-
ple computer animation as examples of advanced technology. This was an exciting time for those in the
research labs wondering if computer animation would ever see the light of day. One of the earliest

12 The film Looker is interesting as an early commentary on the potential use of digital actors in the entertainment industry.