25 Years of Discovery Fact Sheet

SIGGRAPH 98
19-24 July 1998
Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, Florida

History Highlights

1974

Xerox PARC researchers create Alto, the first computer to use a WIMP interface.
Charles Simonyi, Xerox PARC, writes BRAVO, the first WYSIWYG application.
The Altair 8800 microcomputer, based on IntelŐs 8080 processor interface, uses toggle switches and LCDs.

1975

Martin Newell develops the Utah teapot, the venerable icon of computer graphics.
Culminating 20 years of research, Benoit Mandelbrot publishes "A Theory of Fractal Sets."

1976

The first finite-element modeling programs and the first color printers are introduced at SIGGRAPH 76.
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs build the first Apple computers in a garage. Retail price: $666.66.
Bill Gates drops out of Harvard and founds Microsoft with Paul Allen.

1977

Jim Blinn develops image and texture mapping.
The first Apple IIs roll off the assembly line.
"Star Wars," the biggest hit in motion picture history, includes a small insert screen computer-animated by Larry Cuba.

1978

VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet, is introduced by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston.
Intel introduces its first 16-bit processor, the 8086.

1979

George Lucas asks Ed Catmull to head a new computer graphics division of Lucasfilm.
At SIGGRAPH 79, Turner Whitted presents his classic work on ray tracing.

1980

IBM selects MS/DOS from Microsoft as the operating system for its new personal computer.

1981

Nintendo introduces Donkey Kong, and Mario becomes the first video-game superstar.
IBM introduces the PC.

1982

Computer graphics entrepreneurs establish four new companies:

Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Autodesk, Inc.
Adobe Systems Incorporated
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Four young visual effects companies help Disney produce "TRON," the first feature film to make extensive use of 3D computer graphics: III, Robert Abel Associates, MAGI, and Digital Effects.

1983

Silicon Graphics introduces its first system: the IRIS 1000 graphics workstation.
Industrial Light & Magic introduces the use of particle systems to produce the Genesis effect for "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn."
Autodesk introduces the first CAD system for IBM PCs.

1984

Apple introduces the Macintosh with a revolutionary Super Bowl TV ad.
Bill Kovacks founds Wavefront and releases the first commercially available 3D animation system for common computer systems.

1985

Commodore introduces the AMIGA, a flexible personal computer with broadcast video quality.
Adobe Systems Incorporated introduces PostScript.

1986

Pixar proposes Renderman as an interface protocol between temporal geometry data and rendering procedures that convert the data to images.

1987

RCA's Sarnoff Labs and Intel develop digital video interactive.
Bill Gates becomes microcomputing's first billionaire.

1988

At SIGGRAPH 88, the first public demonstrations of virtual reality.

1989

NewTek introduces Video Toaster.
Pixar wins an Academy Award for "Tin Toy," the first computer animation to win an Oscar for best animated short film.
At SIGGRAPH 89, the first demonstrations of multimedia.

1990

Microsoft introduces Windows 3.0.
Autodesk introduces 3D Studio.

1991

The liquid metal character created by Industrial Light & Magic for "Terminator 2" sets a new standard for computer-generated special effects in feature films.

1992

Researchers at the University of North Carolina conduct the first experiments to superimpose virtual and real scenes in a unified visual experience.

1993

James Cameron, Stan Winston, and Scott Ross form Digital Domain.

1994

Industrial Light & Magic wins an Oscar for its special-effects work on "Jurassic Park."
Jim Clark and Marc Andreesen establish Netscape Communications.

1995

Silicon Graphics, Inc. acquires Alias and Wavefront.
John Lasseter receives a Special Achievements Academy Award for his leadership of the Pixar team that produced "Toy Story," the first computer-animated feature film.

1996

Silicon Graphics, Inc. acquires Cray Computer.
US broadcasters reach agreement on HDTV.

1997

The largest SIGGRAPH conference and exhibition: 48,700 attendees and 359 exhibiting companies pack the Los Angeles Convention Center.