PUBLICATION
TITLE: The NOVA Opening:
A Case-Study in Computer Animation
PUBLICATION: IEEE Computer Graphics and Animation
DATE: January 1982
ABSTRACT
The production of the 1981 animated opening for the WGNH/PBS weekly television science series NOVA is used to survey (what were at that time) state-of-the-art computer graphic and animation techniques. These ranged from highly interactive "artist-intensive" tasks to custom programming in the "C" computer language. Mathematical and interactive modeling, 2D and 3D rendering, vector and raster graphics, image digitization, image processing, and computer painting are all described as they were used in the production. The finished animation consists of a succession of images, each representing a major branch of science and encompass a change in scale that takes the viewer from the atomic to the cosmic. Designed to be viewed repeatedly, the animation is an extremely (for a pre-MTV era) dense and intense visual experience. It is not only possible to view this work repeatedly without its becoming stale, it is necessary to view it repeatedly in order to experience all that is happening.
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Revision: August 1995 - All text, graphic and design elements TM & (c) 1995 David M. Geshwind
David M. Geshwind - DIGITAL MEDIA GROUP, LTD.
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