Almost all the key elements of interactive graphics
system are expressed in the first
paragraph of Sutherlands 1963 Ph.D. thesis, entitled, Sketchpad,
A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System:
Today, still use batch
mode for final production-quality video and film (special effects fx), where one frame of a 24 fps
movie may take 8-24 hours to
render on the fastest PC!
What is Interactive
Computer Graphics?
Computer Graphics?
The Sketchpad
system uses drawing as a novel communication
medium for a computer. The system contains input, output, and computation programs
which enable it to interpret
information drawn directly on a computer display. Sketchpad has shown the most usefulness
as an aid to the understanding
of processes, such as the motion of linkages, which can be described with pictures.
Sketchpad also makes it easy
to draw highly repetitive or highly accurate drawings and to change drawings previously drawn with
it