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Westworld
The first major feature to use 2D CGI.In a “computer vision” sequence, audiences see an infra-red POV of the titular amusement park’s malfunctioning android Gunslinger as he goes on a killing spree -
Futureworld
The first use of 3D wireframe CGI imagery,which features a brief view of a computer-generated face and hand. -
Star Wars
An animated 3D wireframe graphic is used for the first time in the first Star Wars film. This new technology was used for the trench run briefing sequence in the first Star Wars film. -
Alien
The first Alien film rendered the navigation monitors in the landing sequence using a raster wireframe model. -
TRON
This inside-a-video-game adventure is the first live-action movie to use CGI for a noteworthy length of time (about 20 minutes). The most innovative sequence of its 3D graphics world is the famed Lightcycle sequence depicting computerized vehicles in a high-speed race. -
music video - Dire Straits - Money For Nothing
The first computer generated music video. The video used computer animation to illustrate the songs lyrics and was one of the first uses of computer animated human characters. -
Labyrinth
The fantasy film 'Labyrinth' showed off the first use of a realistic CGI animal. A flying digital owl is seen in the opening credits. -
Star Trek IV: The voyage Home
Star Trek IV showed the first 3D morphing and contained the first use of the Cyberware 3D scanner. The Cyberware 3D scanner produced the heads of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy as disembodied cyber-sculptures. -
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Used the first all-digital composite, the process of digitally assembling multiple images to make a final image. All-digital composite was used to show the rapid aging and eventual death of Walter Donovan. -
The Abyss
Was the first digital 3D water effect. The watery alien creature was the first example of digitally-animated, CGI water and was the first computer generated 3D character. -
Totall Recall
The Governators film 'Total Recall' included motion capture for CGI characters. Motion capture is the process of recording movement and translating it to a digital model. This was used for the skeletal CGI characters behind an X-ray screen in a subway shootout scene. -
Backdraft
Backdraft included the first use of photorealistic CGI fire. -
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
the first realistic human movements on a CGI character and the first use of a PC to create 3D special effects in a major movie. -
Jurassic Park
The first installment of the Jurassic Park series included the first photorealistic CG creatures. The film used a mix of animatronic and and computer-generated dinosaurs. -
Forrest Gump
The CGI for the digitally-composited interplay between
Forrest Gump and three past presidents (Kennedy, Johnson
and Nixon) and celebrities like Elvis Presley and John Lennon. The digitally amputated legs of actor Gary Sinise, playing a war vet, is its most surprising effect. -
Toy Story
The first movie from the Toy Story series was the first feature length film made entirely with CGI animation. This was the first film from Pixar Animation Studios, a California based CGI computer animation production company that went on to produce many ground breaking animation films in partnership with Disney. -
Titanic
Titanic at the time of it's release was the most expensive film ever made. It was the first use of open source Linux renderred elements in a feature film. The film also included unprecedented advancements especially in the depiction of flowing water. Both CG and miniature models were used to portray the ship as it sank at the end of the movie. -
The Matrix
The science fiction film The Matrix included the first use of CG interpolation in Bullet Time effects. Bullet Time refers to the slowed-down rotating action sequences. CG interpolation was used to enhance actors on wires filmed with motion capture and multiple still cameras shooting from all angles. -
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The first LOTR movie gave us the first use of AI for digital actors. The character of Gollum seen later on in the Lord of the Rings trilogy was the first photorealistic motion captured character for a film. A motion capture suit recorded movements that were then applied to the digital character. -
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
This is the first big-budget feature to use only “virtual” backlot
sets. Actors Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie were filmed in front of blue screens; everything else was added later. -
The Polar Express
TrailerThe Polar Express was the first film to use the motion captured character technology for every single actor in the movie. -
Elephants Dream
the first CGI short movie released as completely open source. All 3D models, animatics, and software are included in the DVD release free for use under the Creative Commons license. -
Monsters vs Aliens
The first computer animated feature film to be shot directly in stereoscopic 3D. 3D CGI films were previously made in non 3D version and then dimensionalized -
How to train your dragon
The first film released in Technicolor 3D, the company's 3D system that works with standard 35mm film projectors. -
Rango
Instead of recording voice-overs in booths, with every actor isolated from everyone else, most of the voice-over work was recorded on a set, with the actors voicing their characters while performing with their fellow cast members. This enabled the performers to follow the rhythms of their co-stars while also giving them room for improvisation. -
Brave
The first film to use the new Dolby Atmos sound system. The new system expands from the 5/7.1 channel sound mixes to 64 discrete speaker feeds and 128 simultaneous and lossless audio channels.
This is the first Pixar-produced film to have a female protagonist. Princess Merida is also the first Pixar character to be included in the Disney Princess line. -
Frozen
Artists had to employ new technology to build some of the more entertaining and amusing characters in Frozen, particularly Olaf. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney created software called Spaces to allow artists to deconstruct the character and rebuild him as part of the animation process. Artists also used software called Flourish to more easily add extra movement and make the animation as true to life as possible.
