Screen capture showing polygons used to model the surface of the hand.

Screen capture showing polygons used to model the surface of the hand.

Detail map of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States Overview map of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

A: Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

The First 3D Rendered Movie

1972
Screen capture of Ed Catmull

Screen capture of Ed Catmull's left hand - from the world's first ever 3D rendered movie created in 1972 by Ed Catmull and Fred Park.

In 1972 Edwin Catmull and Frederic Parke, students of Ivan Sutherland at the University of Utah, created the world's first 3D rendered movie, a 6.5 minute clip featuring an animated version of Ed's left hand, and the first CG physically modelled human face created by Fred Parke. The film shows how a mold was made of Ed's hand, on which polygons were very precisely drawn and measured. Then the data was traced by an analog computer. Probably the same data entry method was used for the face.

In 1976 the film was incorporated in the feature film Futureworld.

This video was rediscovered and uploaded to YouTube in September 2011:

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