Which movies have unforgettable computer graphics?

Tom Sito's new book, "Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation"

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Animator and professor of Cinema Practice at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts Tom Sito

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In “Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation,” animator Tom Sito details the history of animation. From medical imagery to film and from PONG to Avatar, Sito’s book covers how animation and computer graphics has developed over the past 50 years. Which CG movies made an impression on you? Which movie has the best graphics? Which one has the worst?

Do you remember the first time you saw a light saber? Or what about being eye-to-eye with a T-Rex? Did you cry when Andy said good-bye and drove away from Woody and Buzz? Did you reach out to touch the fauna on Pandora? It’s amazing how far animation and computer graphics have come — how they have enabled us to see the imaginative conjurings of creative minds, dreamers and historians and have taken us to realms not thought possible.

In “Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation,” animator Tom Sito details the history of animation. Sito said the technology actually began through military funding in the 1960s because the military was studying flight simulations. From medical imagery to film and from PONG to Avatar, Sito’s book covers how animation and computer graphics has developed over the past 50 years.

As technology continues to develop, what’s the future of animation? Will current CG movies seem really fake? Which CG movies made an impression on you? Which movie has the best graphics? Which one has the worst?

Guest:
Tom Sito, author of “Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation”; Cinema Practice professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts; he has been a professional animator since 1975, working on Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King”, and helped set up the Dreamworks Animation Unit.