I was at a computer conference the other day where this YouTube clip was shown. It shows “The Kitte”, a 1967 animation by the Russian, Niklaevich Konstantinov, and is described as the “first animated sequence using a computer”.
What’s interesting is that it is not quite clear how this animation was generated. It was posted by UnFathomable42 who says that as far as he is aware it was entirely generated by computer. However, if you read the comments that follow the video, there are several people who argue that what actually happened is that the computer printed out a series of pictures of the cat onto paper and these were then animated in traditional fashion by taking a film camera shot of each picture to form each frame.
See what you think. It’s not quite Rhubarb and Custard, but the cat walking along is fairly impressive. But is it genuine? I’d love to know more about this clip’s history if anyone has other historical information.
Tech Lunch 