The Hand

I have found this book titled "To Infinity and Beyond: The Story of Pixar Studios" by Karen Paik. This book is a great source for accurate information as it is based on interviews and genuine research done by Leslie Iwerks. In addition many of the Pixar workers being mentioned in the book have done some foreword materials.

On Chapter 1, page 16, it states "In 1972, as part of a class project, Catmull digitalized a plaster cast of his left hand and animated the computer model of it opening and closing."

So not only does this mean that Ed Catmull has created one of the earliest known 3D models but also gave life to it by animating it. The hand only appeared as a wireframe at the time since that was basically all the computers could process at the time.

The hand animation was used in the move, Futureworld.
The book confirms this by saying "The animation was enthusiastically received (and was actually used in the 1976 movie Futureworld), but for Catmull it was only a first step."

An online article interview (http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sltrib/mobile/53193670-90/film-catmull-computer-animation.html.csp (10.03.2016)) also confirms this story stating "Hollywood noticed Catmull's experiment, and made it the first computer animation to be used in a feature film. It was shown on a TV monitor in the 1976 science-fiction thriller "Futureworld," about a futuristic theme park where androids are programmed to grant every guest's wish."

So I have learned that the movie Futureworld which contains the earliest known computer animation used in movies was made by a Pixar worker. Although the scene itself is not very long, it does seem to be the trigger point to the revolution to how computer animation evolved over the years and how it got to where it is today.


40 Year Old 3D Computer Graphics (Pixar, 1972) from Robby Ingebretsen on Vimeo.