Computer-generated imagery

Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the application of three dimensional computer graphics to special effects in various areas of the media. The use of computer-generated graphics range form television programs and shows, to films and commercials. Video games are also another type of media that usually deals with or adopts the use of CGI. It is used to enhance visual effects due to the fact that effects can be created and controlled in a much easier approach. It also allows the creation of certain images that would not be feasible if created by any other technology. With the additional fact that it allows a single artist to produce content without the need of having other actors, props and set pieces, production costs and time spent on creation are often decreased by the use of CGI.

CGI has become the most widely used animation technique in modern feature films. Pixar Animation Studios produced the first-ever computer-generated short, Luxo Jr., in 1986, and Disney also used CGI in the dance scene of Beauty and the Beast. Ever since, animators have been developing CGI animation and it is expected to become the foremost film style in the future.

Since its origins, CGI has been used widely in a vast array of industries outside of entertainment. In fact, film, television, and video games only make up 15-20% of the 3D animation industry today. People are finding more and more uses for computer-animation in fields such as architecture, engineering, medicine, science, and space exploration. The inherent ability of CGI to simulate reality makes it enormously useful in modelling countless things, such as buildings, new inventions, internal organs or tissues, and proposed missions into space. Animators with experience in the film industry are finding new jobs in these various fields, and are applying their skills in new ways. The rapid rise of CGI is broadening the field of animation from a form of entertainment to an interface with modern technology.