It all began with a simple transmission of binary code.
The first computer graphics in a movie came from another historic first: flyby photos of Mars.
In this episode of Vox Almanac, Vox’s Phil Edwards explores the history behind the groundbreaking CGI (computer-generated imagery) in 1973’s Westworld. The film drew inspiration from a surprising source: the photographs taken by the Mars Mariner flyby of the red planet in the mid-1960s.
Designer and artist John Whitney saw the Mariner photos and thought their distinctive appearance was a good template — as well as technical model — for the computer vision of a robot character in Westworld. In replicating the NASA achievement, he notched his own historic first for CGI in film.
Watch the above video to learn more.
You can find this video and all of Vox’s Almanac series on YouTube. And if you’re interested in supporting our video journalism, you can become a member of the Vox Video Lab on YouTube.
Author: Phil Edwards
Read More
Paige Vickers/Vox; Getty Images In times of economic uncertainty, small luxuries reign supreme. In 2007,…
Paige Vickers/Vox Plus, lessons worth learning about financial literacy. On the Money is a monthly…
The UN reports that over a trillion dollars worth of food gets thrown out every…
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conducts a press conference on a plan to stop illegal migration…
The debate over the Anthropocene epoch, explained. The word “Anthropocene” has gained cultural resonance in…
President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrive for a photo during…