The Magic Egg (1984)

• 72%
• 1984
• Animation

A classic in the world of computer animation, this original digital giant screen movie has been called "a computer-graphics Fantasia (1940)." It was first presented in 1984 at the annual SIGGRAPH (Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Graphics) convention and since then screened in museums and theme parks worldwide. The film consists of visual segments developed by teams of computer-graphics artists and programmers at various research institutes and universities across North America, perhaps most famously at the New York Institute of Technology. These teams combined vector graphics, molecular modeling techniques, and simulated time-lapse photography with the mathematical calculations needed to pre-distort images for IMAX Dome projection. Segments include the famous robotic ant of Dick Lundin, Pat Hanrahan's and Paul Heckbert's flight through a lattice of metamorphosing crystals, a roller coaster ride over an abstract Japanese mountain terrain, and a trip through an intricate floral labyrinth (designed by Ned Greene). "The Magic Egg" was originally shown world-wide in the Imax/Omnimax film format.