Slightly easier these days

doctorfoz · 12-30-2011, 08:09 PM

Nice find. I wonder how many of his contemporaries said "yeah, but what's it for?"?

Nobert · 12-30-2011, 08:16 PM

Yay, I'm not older than computer animation! I love it when that happens.

I wonder if some future founder of Pixar saw that.

hank_scorpio · 12-30-2011, 08:19 PM

Cyberwanking would have been my first thought. But then again, they would have asked what "Cyber" was... so it gets lost in translation.

Probably had medical inclinations back in the day - or some sort of way of demonstrating how you can model the human body for medical science or something?

Or they could have thought someday it could be used in computer gaming?

It was interesting to see that they drew the polygons onto the model first. Then used some sort of instrument to input that data to the computer. Anyone know what instrument that was?

**Yossarian** · 12-30-2011, 08:29 PM

^^I don't know that those have any name more glamorous than "coordinate measuring machine."

doctorfoz · 12-30-2011, 08:35 PM

Is it some sort of Pantograph?

hank_scorpio · 12-30-2011, 08:36 PM

Or those in the know they refer to it as the CMM.

Nobert · 12-30-2011, 09:47 PM

Originally posted by eugenetyson View Post

Cyberwanking would have been my first thought. But then again, they would have asked what "Cyber" was... so it gets lost in translation.

Probably had medical inclinations back in the day - or some sort of way of demonstrating how you can model the human body for medical science or something?

Or they could have thought someday it could be used in computer gaming?

They probably did it just to do it. People who are into technological stuff are like that. Like the techies as Bell Labs who came up with this thing that was sort of like a brick on wheels that, when rolled around, could move the cursor around a computer screen. They hadn't really thought of it as anything but a little experiment until this guy named Jobs scored a chance to audit the lab, saw it in action and exclaimed, "why aren't you doing something with this?" Then he bought it.

hank_scorpio · 12-30-2011, 09:57 PM

No I guarantee, with no proof whatsoever, that they were doing this and thinking of the not yet invented film "Weird Science". And we are all still waiting for that day.

The inventor had a dream!

Nobert · 12-30-2011, 10:32 PM

Well...okay, as long as you have no proof whatsoever. That's the kind of reasoning I like. After all, if those guys in Weird Science had had proof that you can't cook yourself an English model with a home computer and a Barbie doll, then where would they be?

hank_scorpio · 12-30-2011, 10:44 PM

We'd be nowhere Nobert, that's where we'd be. And I'm glad we're at least somewhere.

Slightly easier these days

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