Once in a while it is nice to get to know some cool facts about certain things that have been incorporated in our everyday lives such as 3D animation. We see it everywhere from our television screens to our mobile devices to the cinemas and theaters to our computers and even on the road through digital billboards. Animation is the art wherein a two dimensional image of an inanimate object is turned into a moving visual representation of a three dimensional life using the interplay of techniques, programs and software. So here are some of these fun facts. Enrich your learning and remember that knowledge is power!
1. All the way back during the 1600 BC in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh Ramses II built a one hundred and ten (110) column temple dedicated to a goddess. Each column had a painted figure of the goddess, each having an image that gradually and progressively changed position making it appear as if it were moving.
2. The Greeks too did something similar with the use of a spinning pot. These were decorated with successive images such that when you look at it from a certain angle and spin it around, you will be rewarded with a simple animated image.
3. In relation to the above, a similar 5,200 year old bowl was found in Iran. It was adorned with five images of a wild goat leaping up to eat leaves.
4. The first use of 3D animation in a motion picture was during 1982 for the movie “Tron” while the first to use it in a music video were the Dire Straits for their song “Money for Nothing”.
5. The very first 3D full length animated film was the famous “Toy Story” in 1995 which was such a big hit that it came with two sequels in 1999 and 2010. It even began the successive and continuous release of the animated films we see today.
6. Did you know had the students at the New York Institute of Technology finished their project, the Toy Story would have not been the first full length animated film? The students worked on their project called “The Works” but eventually had to abandon it due to technology and script setbacks.
7. Pixar the creator of the Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL E, Up and Brave loved giving their characters cameo roles in different movies. If you’re keen enough you’d find a lot of these but if not don’t worry the internet can surely help you search for them. Also some of Pixar’s 3D animation films are so complex that it can take up to ninety hours for a single computer to translate all the information on a single image finished!
