Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation

Sito, Tom

ISBN 10: 0262528401 / ISBN 13: 9780262528405

Published by MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2015

About this Item

362 pp. Tightly bound. Spine not compromised. Text is free of markings. No ownership markings. Remainder mark (one small dot) on bottom fore-edge. This copy is smyth sewn. Smyth sewing is a method of book binding where groups of folded pages (referred to as signatures) are stitched together using binder thread. Each folded signature is sewn together individually with multiple stitches and then joined with other signatures to create the complete book block. This is the traditional and best method of bookbinding.

Seller Inventory # 082753

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation
• Publisher: MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262528401
• ISBN 13: 9780262528405
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good Plus

About this title

Synopsis

A behind-the-scenes history of computer graphics, featuring a cast of math nerds, avant-garde artists, cold warriors, hippies, video game players, and studio executives.

Computer graphics (or CG) has changed the way we experience the art of moving images. Computer graphics is the difference between Steamboat Willie and Buzz Lightyear, between ping pong and PONG. It began in 1963 when an MIT graduate student named Ivan Sutherland created Sketchpad, the first true computer animation program. Sutherland noted: “Since motion can be put into Sketchpad drawings, it might be exciting to try making cartoons.” This book, the first full-length history of CG, shows us how Sutherland's seemingly offhand idea grew into a multibillion dollar industry.

In Moving Innovation, Tom Sito—himself an animator and industry insider for more than thirty years—describes the evolution of CG. His story features a memorable cast of characters—math nerds, avant-garde artists, cold warriors, hippies, video game enthusiasts, and studio executives: disparate types united by a common vision. Sito shows us how fifty years of work by this motley crew made movies like Toy Story and Avatar possible.

About the Author

Tom Sito has been a professional animator since 1975. He was one of the key players in Disney's animation revival of the 1980s and 1990s and he helped set up the Dreamworks Animation Unit in 1995. He is the author of Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson and Professor of Cinema Practice in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.