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The computer displays were showing films, yes. It is unclear to me that the wireframe animations were not computer generated, I always thought they were. That

by Isamu 7y ago

The computer displays were showing films, yes. It is unclear to me that the wireframe animations were not computer generated, I always thought they were. That is, for the wireframe animations when a ship is docking, I always thought that the animation was in fact a film of a series of discrete computer generated vector images, maybe displayed on a CRT and frame-by-frame stop-motion animated. It looks like that to me, and the tech was clearly available at the time. Maybe they were drawn by hand and not CRT vector images, but if so they went out of their way to simulate it. I guess I wouldn't put it past Stanley.

phire 7y ago
For Escape from New York (1981), it was cheaper to build a New York skyline set, paint it black and then paint all the edges white and film it, than create CGI wireframe graphics.
- dhritzkiv 7y ago
  Yep. Here's an article with several photos of the artists constructing the physical set: http://www.theefnylapage.com/pressexclusiveinterviewsjohncwash.htm http://www.theefnylapage.com/pressexclusiveinterviewsjohncwa...
WalterBright 7y ago
I remember reading long ago that they were drawn/animated by artists, not by computer.
gmueckl 7y ago
The computer screens graphics in 2001 have a look that is very common for hand drawn film elements of that era. The kind of blurry edges of the lines are pretty typical for this process. Compare that to the mission briefing in Star Wars Episode 4 where the scientist shows a wireframe animation of the attack flight path. It occupies just a tiny area in the background of the final frame, but it was created by a computer. It took several seconds to draw each wireframe onto a screen, which was then recorded by a film camera triggered to advance frame by frame by the computer. There is a making of film for this sequence somehwere. This is the process you suggest, but about ten years after 2001 it was barely possible.

by Isamu 7y ago

phire 7y ago

For Escape from New York (1981), it was cheaper to build a New York skyline set, paint it black and then paint all the edges white and film it, than create CGI wireframe graphics.

dhritzkiv 7y ago
Yep. Here's an article with several photos of the artists constructing the physical set: http://www.theefnylapage.com/pressexclusiveinterviewsjohncwash.htm http://www.theefnylapage.com/pressexclusiveinterviewsjohncwa...

WalterBright 7y ago

I remember reading long ago that they were drawn/animated by artists, not by computer.

gmueckl 7y ago

The computer screens graphics in 2001 have a look that is very common for hand drawn film elements of that era. The kind of blurry edges of the lines are pretty typical for this process. Compare that to the mission briefing in Star Wars Episode 4 where the scientist shows a wireframe animation of the attack flight path. It occupies just a tiny area in the background of the final frame, but it was created by a computer. It took several seconds to draw each wireframe onto a screen, which was then recorded by a film camera triggered to advance frame by frame by the computer. There is a making of film for this sequence somehwere. This is the process you suggest, but about ten years after 2001 it was barely possible.