| What was once thought of as a fringe contributor to | | | | and horror film these days, and the integration has |
| the world of art, the computer is now responsible for | | | | gotten so convincing that it is difficult to tell where |
| some of the most respected masterpieces ever | | | | the actors end and where the art begins. Some films, |
| crafted. If you're old enough, you remember the | | | | such as the two Hulk films and much of the Matrix |
| gasps of horror as animation studios like Disney | | | | series, featured almost exclusively CGI backgrounds |
| began integrating computer animation into their films. | | | | and sets, which overshadowed everything else. |
| At first, it was difficult to see. Released in 1985, The | | | | Hollywood often takes great pride in being artistic, |
| Black Cauldron was the first Disney film to use | | | | but now, thanks to computers in art, the lines |
| computer animation, with 1988's Oliver & | | | | between entertainment, art, and reality are gone. |
| Company being the first Disney film that relied on | | | | Right now, the powerhouse name in computer |
| computer animation. However, computers have had a | | | | generated art is Adobe. The incredibly popular Adobe |
| far broader impact on art than just through animation. | | | | Photoshop has become an iconic piece of software |
| A perfect example of this is today's modern video | | | | that is known far and wide for allowing anyone to |
| game industry. With processors now capable of | | | | crop, change, or create a photograph out of almost |
| showing millions of colors, video game designers are | | | | anything. The steep price tag often associated with |
| now capable of rendering masterpieces that would | | | | this software does nothing to dissuade people from |
| likely be hanging in museums if they were on canvas | | | | buying it and/or downloading it off the Internet. |
| instead of computer chips. The Final Fantasy series of | | | | One final type of art that computers have helped to |
| games has taken fine art to a new level with every | | | | pioneer is fractals. These complex geometric shapes |
| technological breakthrough and platform change. Now, | | | | can be turned, shifted, zoomed in on, and reproduced |
| video game fanatics can spend as much time | | | | in an infinite number of ways, and many consider the |
| admiring the painstakingly rendered backgrounds, | | | | brilliant colors, complex patterns and infinite |
| characters and scenery as they do playing the game. | | | | possibilities to be art at its finest. Fractals are the |
| Some franchises, such as the Final Fantasy games, | | | | convergence of art, math, and science, all wrapped |
| end up with a well earned reputation for high art as | | | | into one. The property of self-similarity is on full |
| much as they do for plot and game play. | | | | display here as shapes can be manipulated and |
| In other ways, computers have helped create whole | | | | complex patterns explored for a lifetime. You can |
| new artistic realities through the use of film special | | | | purchase fractal generating software now at most |
| effects and CGI. Computer Generated Imagery, also | | | | stores that will allow you to explore computer |
| known as CGI, is used in almost every major action | | | | generated art at its finest and for only pennies. |