Digital Media Concepts/CGI - Uses and Importance

Summary
CGI (Computer-generated imagery) is a type of visual effect which is generated by computer graphics. It’s uses can be seen through different form of media like printing comics, games, anime, animated movies, Disney movies, VFX films, and many more. In today’s media, we can see CGI being a huge part in creating blueprints and being huge part in Architecture designs.

Purpose
CGI in today’s digital media is one of the most important factors from advertising, photography, anime to education. CGI can be both 3D (Three Dimensional) or 2D (Two Dimensional) object or rendering animations. It helps visualize and learn better. CGI is used to explain many complex topics which require people a lot of effort to understand or teach.

History
The year 1973 was the cinema’s first two-dimensional computer image produced. The first movie with CGI was “Westworld” in the year 1973. After three years (1976) 3D for computer graphics was made. Shortly after 3D graphics game was made in 1980 named “Battlezone”. In the years 1980’s and 1990’s was when CGI went mainstream. It was in the 1993 movie, “Jurassic Park” when CGI became more known around the world. We also saw that in 1982 first CGI advertisement was made which changed the field of advertisement for the better. Now a day most of the advertisement is based on CGI because it makes everything charming to the eyes.

Advertisement
Advertisment is a huge business in itself. There are different types of advertising from Newspaper, Radio, Television, to social media. In today’s day and age, wherever we go or whatever we search advertisement always follows. CGI is being used in for every single type of advertisement. Product Visualization is better and cleaner with CGI because packaging variants and color patterns can be explored freely and quickly.

One of the drawbacks of using CGI would be the cost. Using professional animation on advertisement is very expensive but with the cost come with good results. Also, another advantage would be that it is cheaper than professional photo shoots. Another important thing to notice is that the flexibility and adaptability. You can capture every angle of a product and different colors which makes the product charming.

Education
There has been a lot of animated videos for educational purpose in recent years. You can find educational video from ABCD rhymes to high level math course like Calculus. Educational animated video helps students visualize and understand better. CGI is helping students learn skills better because it causes them to engage with the information and increase critical thinking. It has come to the fact that importance of animation in the learning and teaching field cannot be overlooked because of its influence around the world. Students learn better through visual representation and animated education videos are huge help.

Anime and Animated movies
Research with computer animation and graphics started as early as in the 40’s. The first-ever Computer animation was created in 1958 called “Vertigo” by Saul Bass. The first computer-animated experimental film was created in 1961 called the “Catalog” which inspired the visual effect for the movie “A Space Odyssey (1968)”. The first digital morphing of a human face began in the year 1967 which was a huge finding because now a day every animated film uses this feature. Some of the important movies throughout history are Jurassic Park, Star Trek, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Toy Story, Terminator, Matrix, and many more which had huge success in terms of portraying CGI. The first anime with full-length was “Momotaro: Umi no Shinpei (Momotaro, Sacred Sailors)” which was released in 1945. Anime in today’s day and age has huge part of entertainment source. Most of the anime uses CGI which is far advance. CGI enhances the quality of the anime by making it more charming and realistic. CGI is used in anime mostly on solid object, vehicle, buildings, and object that is not organic. Some of the most popular anime with CGI are Stand By Me Doraemon, Hi Score Girl, Baki, Berserk, Promare.

CGI Importance
CGI are important for visualization, creativity, animation, view from different angles, and many more. There are a lot of important uses of CGI, and they are architecture planning, creating movies, making educational videos, advertisement, and photography. CGI is one of the most cost-effective animation tools which delivers content across multiple media. .