Developing the 3D Software

Abstract

Relative to the software development of computer graphics, there have been several important introductions, and not in a orderly fashion. Computing power with programmability, storage, and graphics displays were obtainable in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As they became available drawing techniques that had been mechanical through the use of templates became possible in a computer. One such example is the generation of families of 2D curves on a flat surface known as conic sections. The use of curves is found in aircraft, automotive, ship, and appliance designs, plus buildings, bionics, and sports. Computer-aided design was one of, maybe the first application to make use of computer generated curves and surfaces; it was certainly the first commercial application. Next the designs had to be colored and during the 1970s there was an explosion of techniques for surface shading and mapping. After the image is generated, and sometimes while, it is necessary to apply image filters to smooth out lines, and/or reduce blurriness. We are all living in the 3D world, and it is a natural desire to transpose this three-dimensional feature into art as well. In this chapter, I have introduced the algorithmic aspects of computer graphics. CG is a bunch of tricks to make us think we are seeing something that although is not real, looks real. It is suspension of disbelief.

Appendix

Here are listed items that may be useful in understanding more about the industry and technology.

3.1.1 SIGGRAPH

The Special Interest Group on Graphics (SIGGRAPH) is part of the Association of Computing Machinery, established in 1947.

In 1967 and 1968, Andre van Dam (Brown University) and Sam Matsa (head of IBM’s NY Scientific Center), presented 1-day ACM Professional Development seminars on Interactive Computer Graphics, and held them in multiple places in the US and several countries in Western Europe. Van Dam taught the hardware and software side and Matsa taught applications. The seminars were popular, attracting 40 or 50 people per session, and showed the interest in computer graphics. That led Matsa and van Dam to petition ACM to form a SICGRAPH (Special Interest Committee on Computer Graphics), the forerunner of SIGGRAPH. SICs were a sort of Special Interest Group (SIGs) on training wheels. However, the ACM was hesitant about the idea of creating the SIC in CG and told van Dam he’d have to collect at least 30 signatures on a petition to get it sanctioned. He set out to do that and had a little difficulty collecting them since there were very few people specializing in interactive (as opposed to plotter) graphics at that time. Nevertheless, he succeeded, and he and Matsa became the co-founders of the SICGRAPH in 1968.

Professionals in computer graphics, both those in industry and the few in Universities, wanted recognition for their work; the same way other computing disciplines were recognized. One thing needed was elected, rather than appointed, officers. The reason that it moved to being a SIG was that ACM was phasing out the SIC’s, which were financially supported by ACM proper, and moving them into being SIG’s which had their own budgets and funding. Going from SICGRAPH to SIGGRAPH was primarily keeping up with the times.

Jon Meads (at Tektronix at the time) drafted the first set of bylaws, and in so doing officially named the organization “SIGGRAPH”, so Meads is credited with being the founder of SIGGRAPH. Meads and Bob Schiffman (a professor at the University of Colorado who later became the SIGGRAPH 74 Chair) picked Boulder for the first Annual SIGGRAPH conference, and its first elected chair was Bob Dunn. Boulder was picked because that’s where the University of Colorado was and Bob Schiffman got them to pay for the conference. Fortunately, they had enough attendees that U of C made out well.

The fledging organization hadn’t gotten around to developing a logo in 1974. In fact, SIGGRAPH didn’t get a logo till 1987

Attendance was a surprising 600 people, all showing great enthusiasm for the subject. That first year there were no formal proceedings published (the papers presented eventually found a home in a journal on Computer Graphics from Pergamon Press). The next two conferences (Bowling Green, Ohio, and then Philadelphia) were only moderately successful; however, the 1977 conference held at the Hyatt in San Jose was a resounding success, and that established SIGGRAPH as an important event in the eyes of the community. One of the reasons San Jose was a success is that it was the first SIGGRAPH to have formal commercial exhibits, and many people think it was the first SIGGRAPH.

Forty years and many successful SIGGRAPH conferences later, the Proceedings of the Conference remains an accepted scholarly journal for the publication of technical contributions, and something budding computer graphic scientists complete for acceptance in.

SIGGRAPH Animation Mother ©Meats Meier

Counting Boulder in 74 as the first, the 40th SIGGRAPH will be in 2013. Since its inception, SIGGRAPH has been the launching platform for memorable companies, products, ideas, and people – too numerous to mention them all; to list them even briefly would fill two or more books.

3.1.2 National Computer Graphics Association

The National Computer Graphics Association (NCGA) was founded in 1979 by Joel Orr and Peter Preuss.

NCGA evolved from the standardization efforts of SIGGRAPH, and some frustration that the industry was not necessarily being served well by a single entity in the form of SIGGRAPH. It held its first conference in Virginia in 1980, with an expanded equipment exhibition, workshops and tutorials for attendees, and an award program for images and videos (SIGGRAPH chose not to pick any “best of…” until 2003.) For many years, it was important for graphics professionals to attend both conferences, but during the downturn in the 1990s, NCGA fell on financial hard times, and is now defunct. Several subgroups of NCGA, such as the CAD Society have survived. It is an occasional informal gathering of professionals–vendors, consultants, and users–who are interested in CAD. The National Computer Graphics Association was in operation from 1979 to 1996.

3.1.3 Eurographics

In 1980, the European Computer Graphics Organization, Eurographics was formed. They held their first conference in Geneva that year. There were also organizations in Australia (Ausgraph), Canada, the Netherlands (ISEA – The Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts), Japan (Nicograph’s first conference was held in 1982) and elsewhere. The CGS (Computer Graphics Society) was formally founded in Geneva in 1992. Also, beginning in 1962 the Users of Automatic Information Display Equipment (UAIDE) annual conference was the home for leading edge computer graphics papers until SIGGRAPH came along. During the mid-1980s, Pratt Institute in New York sponsored an annual conference (ComGraf), and there were conferences in Paris (Parigraph), London (ComputerFX), MonteCarlo (Festival International de Television de Monte Carlo), Canada (Graphics Interface), and many other locations in the U.S. and abroad. Besides SIGGRAPH and NCGA, a big conference for CAD professionals was the Design Automation Conference.