The first 3D app?

[Mike RB]

Might want to rent the Tron DVD and watch the special features. They talk about having to get the programmers to write code to make a "camera" and implementing things like depth coloring to simulate "fog" or depth in the images. Maya for movies is relatively new, I can't see it having been used in a feature before "Bingo", which was what, 98? Poweranimator is a different story, but you asked about Maya.
Mike

[Cronholio]

The first 3D app commercially availbale was Wavefront in 1984. It was the precursor to PowerAnimator which was the precursor to Maya.

The first movie to use any sort of 3D was Futureworld in 1974.

Maya didn't get released until 1997 IIRC, couldn't tell you waht was the first movie to use it.

More fun facts here

http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/timeline.html

[Dennik]

I don't know which was the very first app, but here is a very very interesting video (http://archive.computerhistory.org/lectures/PIXAR_A%20HUMAN%20STORY%20OF%20COMPUTER%20ANIMATION.wmv) from the pioneers of the CG industry talking about the human story of computer animation.

(link taken from computer history museum (http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1114720561)site)

[beaker]

The first 3D app commercially availbale was Wavefront in 1984. It was the precursor to PowerAnimator which was the precursor to Maya.Almost correct, except that Wavefront wasn't the precurser to Power Animator. Alias and Wavefront were two competing companies. SGI bought both of them and combined them into one company. Maya is a combination of Wavefront Expolore, Power Animator and 5 other products.

[Dija]

The first 3D app commercially availbale was Wavefront in 1984. It was the precursor to PowerAnimator which was the precursor to Maya.

The first movie to use any sort of 3D was Futureworld in 1974.

Maya didn't get released until 1997 IIRC, couldn't tell you waht was the first movie to use it.

More fun facts here

http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/timeline.html (http://accad.osu.edu/%7Ewaynec/history/timeline.html)


I read at wikipedia that the first 3D app commercially available was MAGI SynthaVision. it was being sould before it was used to make some imagery for Tron. And that just after MAGI modified its raycasting system to generate images, instead of calculating the radiation of nuclear reactors. That was in early 70´s

[knellotron]

here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_CGI_in_films

Most early examples used propreitary / specially developed tools; the appearance of commercial software in major films is pretty recent. I don't know about Maya's history that well. Alias / Wavefront did make 3-D programs before Maya, though.

[jeremybirn]

Almost correct, except that Wavefront wasn't the precurser to Power Animator. Alias and Wavefront were two competing companies. SGI bought both of them and combined them into one company. Maya is a combination of Wavefront Expolore, Power Animator and 5 other products.

Yes, Wavefront|TDI was a merger of Wavefront and Thompson Digital Imaging, and that merger gave them a big product line with TAV (The Advanced Visualizer) from the former Wavefront side, and Explore, Kinemation, Dynamation on the TDI side. Then Wavefront|TDI got bought by SGI and merged with Alias Research (with its Alias Studio/Power Animator line). In the end, lots of formerly competing programs were owned by one company, and they borrowed bits from several of them in making Maya.

Power Animator was a configuration of Alias Studio, which is still being sold. Now Alias Studio is being marketed for industrial design, not the entertainment industry, but it is still the same program that used to be sold as Power Animator.

-jeremy

[beaker]

Power Animator was a configuration of Alias Studio, which is still being sold. Now Alias Studio is being marketed for industrial design, not the entertainment industry, but it is still the same program that used to be sold as Power Animator.Well sorta, it is missing many modules that PA had. All the modeling stuff is there and the gui is mostly the same, but most of the character animation and all the particles, dynamics, warp deformers, toon renderer, etc... are gone.

[itsallgoode9]

I was watching the video that Dennik (http://member.php?u=1836) linked and had to pause mid-video to make a post about how much in awe (don't know how to spell that word for the context) I was when watching the first 15 minutes.....AWESOME AND AMAZING. check it out everybody.....back to the vid. :applause:

[AkaKico]

I don't know which was the very first app, but here is a very very interesting video (http://archive.computerhistory.org/lectures/PIXAR_A%20HUMAN%20STORY%20OF%20COMPUTER%20ANIMATION.wmv) from the pioneers of the CG industry talking about the human story of computer animation.

(link taken from computer history museum (http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1114720561)site)

Thank you very much for posting that link. I learned a lot from it. Adds a nice human face to 3D.
Chris

[itsallgoode9]

Thank you very much for posting that link. I learned a lot from it. Adds a nice human face to 3D.
Chris

YES! I wanted to double post to hopefully get more people to check that link out, but I held back till somebody else posted lol As I said before, check out that video everybody! Long, but VERY inspironational!

[JamesMK]

- - - here is a very very interesting video (http://archive.computerhistory.org/lectures/PIXAR_A%20HUMAN%20STORY%20OF%20COMPUTER%20ANIMATION.wmv) from the pioneers of the CG industry talking about the human story of computer animation.

WATCH IT.

NOW.

Most inspirational thing ever. Not to mention the fact that Brad Bird is quite a comedian :D




.

[Gangstashers]

So if i get this right... Maya is a mix between several apps? Sounds kinda messed up...:shrug:

Is that the reason why maya is used alot in the film industrie becuz the former apps that where used are now all in one ''Maya''?

And why is it still called ''Alias'' then? If other companies buyd it?



Sheherryar

[ThirdEye]

So if i get this right... Maya is a mix between several apps? Sounds kinda messed up...:shrug:

as if Maya wasn't kinda messed up :D

Is that the reason why maya is used alot in the film industrie becuz the former apps that where used are now all in one ''Maya''?

They use it because it's one of the best apps on the market. Also changing a pipeline from a Maya based one to a something else based one shouldn't be easy and cheap.

And why is it still called ''Alias'' then? If other companies buyd it?

Volkswagen bought Lamborghini, but they didn't call the Murcielago "VW Murcielago". Avid bought Softimage, but they didn't call XSI "Avid XSI".

[Gangstashers]

Aaah ^^ thx..

But i switched from C4D to Maya and i think C4D is much much easier to use.. i wish they used it in the industrie would be much easier. Or else i would never switch tough.



Sheherryar

[Dija]

here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_CGI_in_films

Most early examples used propreitary / specially developed tools; the appearance of commercial software in major films is pretty recent. I don't know about Maya's history that well. Alias / Wavefront did make 3-D programs before Maya, though.


Okay, I stand partially corrected, because I was refering to the first comercially 3d app available, not the first available extensively used in films. There were some comercials made with synthavision, the first one being just 3d flying letters rendered in a IBM mainframe. Perhaps the image quality wasn´t that good to be used in films back then. MAGI Also invented the reflection mapping:



http://www.yourupload.com//uploads/zasconder/8631d-magi-refl-map.jpg

http://www.yourupload.com//uploads/zasconder/4a3db-magi-shaver.jpg



By using raycasting, Synthavision is considered to be one of the first systems to implement the later concept of ray-tracing for making images. MAGI even did an early film test for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the system was marketed by Computer Visuals Inc.

After MAGI closed it´s doors (around 1985), some of it´s employees went to Pixar, And an employee called Chris Wedge joined others and founded Blue Sky Productions (I don´t know if this and Blue Sky studios are the same).

link: http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/tree/magi.html

[jeremybirn]

So if i get this right... Maya is a mix between several apps? Sounds kinda messed up...:shrug:

When they developed a next generation program, Maya, they had a lot of technologies and features to choose from, as well as all the programmers from several companies who used to be competing. It gave them a bit of a head start compared to other companies.

Is that the reason why maya is used alot in the film industrie becuz the former apps that where used are now all in one ''Maya''?

In the 1990's, high end work based on commercial 3D software became centered around one pipeline: Model in Alias (that was Alias Studio/Alias Power Animator), Animate in Softimage (that was Softimage Creative Environment later called Softimage|3D), and render in Renderman. All of this was done on SGI workstations.

After Microsoft bought Softimage in 1994 and clearly was going to port Softimage to Windows NT, SGI aquired both Alias Research and its leading competitor Wavefront|TDI, and put them together basically to make a new program that would crush Softimage. It worked. Companies switched from modeling in Alias, then animating in Softimage, to doing both modeling and animation in Maya. Use of Softimage really plunged between 1995 when it was the industry standard animation program and 2000 when it was looking like a has-been and most companies had dumped it for Maya.

Of course, Microsoft's port of Softimage to Windows NT was successful, and eventually Alias had to port Maya to Windows as well, even while it was owned by SGI. Softimage was sold to Avid, has slowly battled its way back with its own next-generation app, XSI, and is starting to gain market share in the high-end again.

And why is it still called ''Alias'' then? If other companies buyd it?

It is now a separate company. For a while, Alias Research was owned by SGI, but it was sold.

-jeremy

[oddforce]

The first 3d app I used,

VU 3D for ZX Spectrum
http://www.clive.nl/detail/22808/

from 1982, I still have the tape

"VU 3D is a design and modeling program in three dimensions. From an image in the mind, create an object on the screen, rotate and view it in three dimensions, zoom in and zoom out and display the object in high resolution colour in different perspectives"

I never picked up 3D again until 20 years later when XSI came out :D

[Lone Deranger]

Aah... don't you just love these threads.. Makes me feel nostalgic and has me reaching for all my old books and magazines. I love reading about CG history, short though it might be.
Can anybody recommend good books on the matter? The older the better. :)

[Dija]

Aah... don't you just love these threads.. Makes me feel nostalgic and has me reaching for all my old books and magazines. I love reading about CG history, short though it might be.
Can anybody recommend good books on the matter? The older the better. :)


Perhaps you would like to read about the CAD history. Although it´s not digital content creation, it´s very interenting too.

http://www.cadazz.com/cad-software-history.htm

[beaker]

So if i get this right... Maya is a mix between several apps? Sounds kinda messed up...:shrug: I'm probably missing a few, but Maya is made of technology from Alias: Studio, Power Animator, Studio Paint, Composer, TDI: Explore, IPR, Wavefront: Advanced Visualizer, Kinemation, Dynamation.

The only thing that kind of blows is there is still some tools from these packages that many of us miss that still haven't been implemented in Maya. Studio Paint was discontinued a few years ago and there are still tools in it 10 years ago that blow away many tools in Body Paint and Deep Paint.

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