Computer Generated Images, in terms of the advancement of entertainment technology, a relatively new invention credited to mankind, but in terms of this century C.G.I is now entering its third decade of ever improving and developing images and simulation of real life. .
The first major movie to use CGI effects to make a "computer simulation" was "Star Trek II - The Wrath Of Khan" (the "Genesis Effect"). Closely followed by "Tron" also in 1982 which was the first film to mix C.G.I backgrounds with live actors. The 1980's saw the introduction of basic computer generated images, experimentation of different materials that could be realistically produced, i.e. Liquid - "The Abyss" 1989 and "The Last Starfighter" which successfully portrayed spaceships using C.G.I. The 1990's however saw successful simulations of liquid, "morphing" ("Terminator 2" 1992), animation alongside C.G.I ("Beauty and the Beast" 1991), dinosaurs ("Jurassic Park"1993) and the first ever full-length C.G.I film ("Toy Story" 1995). Following the success of "Toy Story" companies such as Dreamworks, Disney and Pixar continued to make full length C.G.I Films such as "Antz", "A Bugs Life", "Toy Story 2" and "Stuart Little". The year 2000 to the present also saw an ever improving set of films all reaping the benefits of C.G.I some titles including the original mini-series "Walking with dinosaurs", "Shrek", "Ice Age" and "Star Wars Episode II Attack of The Clones". Which was the first full-length movie to be shot on digital film and also used extensive CGI work to create the background. December 2002 saw the first movie to have a fully realistic-acting CGI character for the entire length of the movie "Gollum" in "The Lord of The Rings - The Two Towers". The most recent and the highest-grossing animated movie of all time "Finding Nemo" which was released in June 2003. .
What is so amazing about computer generated imagery? C.G.I in film not only helps create challenging images at a cheap price (in comparison to doing real life stunts) but also realistically portrays images and things that would be near impossible or too dangerous to do in real life.
