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1977 Star Wars Computer Graphics

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the real-time-racing-it-is-not dept.

Noryungi writes "The interestingly named 'Topless Robot' has a real trip down memory lane: how the computer graphics of the original Star Wars movie were made. The article points to this YouTube video of a short documentary made by Larry Cuba, the original artist, that explains how he did it. In 1977."

6 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Better Then CGI by doroshjt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    CGI has ruined movies, they are so in your face that you can't enjoy the movie. What made the original star wars great was the animitronics for all the characters instead of jar jar binks super imposed cartoon characters.

    1. Re:Better Then CGI by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What made the original star wars great was the animitronics for all the characters instead of jar jar binks super imposed cartoon characters.

      What made JarJar obnoxious was not how his image was created for the film. That's like blaming YouTube for the abundance of noisy idiots on-line.

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    2. Re:Better Then CGI by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      CGI has ruined movies, they are so in your face that you can't enjoy the movie

      It's not just the graphics, it's the film-making.

      Did you notice on this one how the initial shots of the Death Star graphics are a wide shot showing all the pilots slouching around listening to the briefing? That was the point, not the graphics.

      Today they would have framed that shot tight on the graphics with the speaker on one side. But by not focusing on the graphics they're more powerful - in this universe, it's just commonplace, nothing that needs highlighting (until the detail is small enough that the audience wouldn't be able to follow, so they zoom in then). To somebody watching in 1977 the effect is heightened.

      The point here is the briefing and the reactions of those assembled to highlight just how ridiculous and impossible (without an assist from the "more powerful than you can possibly imagine" Ben Kenobi) the task is. But they're going to try anyway because humans fight to be free.

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    3. Re:Better Then CGI by kimvette · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, AOL was to blame for that.

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    4. Re:Better Then CGI by Tetsujin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Agreed. Look at the Hitchhiker's Guide movie.

      Do I have to?

      People got so hung up on the "Ford isn't supposed to be black" thing that they seem to have forgotten about the "Ford is supposed to be funny" thing...

      --
      Bow-ties are cool.
  2. Re:2001 Space Odyssey "computer graphics" by Anonymous+Struct · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are you sure? I was so certain that the last part of that movie was directed by a random number generator.