The Time? 1968. The place? A movie theater in Washington D.C. I still remember watching the Stargate animation sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and being blown away by it's revolutionary slit-scan technology. In 1972, I was impressed by my Magnavox Odyssey gaming system with it's moving white squares on my television. Sure, I had to tape colored pictures onto the screen to play different games, but it was soooo cool! In 1973, I watched Leigh Taylor Young play Space Wars in Soylent Green and couldn't believe the sophisticated animation. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! I remember the shock of seemlessly flying INTO the trench on the Death Star in 1977. Computers were at the cusp of revolutionizing film-making. I spent a large part of my disposable income playing in the arcades in the 80's- from the black and white Pong to my first game with colors- Galaxians, and beyond. Wow! Color!! For the last 20 years, I've watched the ever-increasing power of computer systems reveal more and more sophisticated real-time as well as pre-rendered animations. Amazing stuff and yes- beautiful. It just gets better and better.
A simple video clip like this is beautiful to me, and each little advance in simulating real-world physics is exciting; but if you've grown up with modern computers and powerful GPU's, do you just take this stuff for granted?
