John Whitney - Arabesque (1975) early computer graphics

John Whitney is considered by many to be the "Father of Computer Graphics". He started in the 1940s building clockwork mechanisms with lights to draw directly on film. Later, he bought WW2 surplus analog ballistics computers and eventually started using digital computers. I believe this one was rendered using a vector display.
Incidentally, his son John Whitney, Jr. owned the company that did graphics for "The Last Starfighter".

[@videotater]

Very cool to see this again. I remember watching John et al film this (or at least, some portion of it, or a conceptual test) on the IBM 370 Model 145 in the computer lab at CalTech. Yes, I was there! It was really amazing to watch history being made. It was drawn in stop-frame style, on a vector display IIRC. Incredible to think how far we have come. The computer you are using to view these comments is more powerful than the multi-million dollar mainframe used to create this video 36 yrs ago.

[@postingoldtapes]

Sorry about the quality. I've never seen a DVD of any of Whitney's work. This was from a Japanese LaserDisc called "Visual Pathfinders" copied to VHS years ago. Also, I put this up quite a while ago before KZbin started accepting better quality video posts. On the other hand, if you have access to a DVD of this, why don't you go to the trouble of digitizing it and posting it instead of just knocking others?

[@lutello3012]

Just got and digitized from the laserdisc! Supposedly there's a DVD but I can't find it for sale, wonder if the transfer is any better.

[@wurnotantmlb]

This vídeo is far beyond any expectations.!!! We will Wait for you to take advantage of the new resolución era in youtube eitherways xddd this is seriously something to rush into

[@RobinParmar]

I can confirm the transfer is pretty bad, even off the one DVD that was released. This material really must be remastered from the original tapes in 4K. It's a huge loss not to see this as Whitney intended.

[@Tine_of_Nice_Dreams]

Truly amazing. It makes you re-think what people are capable of.

[@CdoubleyouC]

Love this. I must find a high quality copy. Whitney.. good god. I also like this public forum.. a mixture of trippers and graphics geeks. fuck, everybody loves this

[@uuaschbaer]

The coolness of this work stretches far beyond any screensaver I have ever had.

[@paulahaunt]

Father of the demoscene.

[@RTpanzertime]

Simply amazing. That would work very well as the background of a title sequence for a movie (I'm thinking a Japanese movie).

[@postingoldtapes]

The vector display (see old Asteroids and Tempest arcade machines) was probably monochrome, and color was added with various filters. And overlapping graphics of different colors were done by rolling the film back and double-exposing it. All of which makes Whitney's work even more amazing.

[@marcorock93]

Excellent piece of graphical art for that times...it's very fascinating and magical despite of its embrional technique

[@sos7410]

学校で見たけど、不思議な面白さにはまり何回もKZbinで見てる。

[@binary132]

brilliant! it's like each line is showing a part of the song O_O

[@Tocinator]

I saw this one at MoMA in NYC, in good quality! so a copy must exist

[@vapourmile]

This is the kind of thing that would have had me transfixed when I was a kid. It's as if computer graphics is in my DNA, and it's because of this sort of brilliant work that it made such an impact on me.

[@DanFiebiger]

^This is NOT his first film by far! John Whitney Sr. started getting computers to make imagery as far back as the 1950s. And made several similar films to this in the1950s & mainly in the 60s. (And much later his sons John Jr, Robert, and Greg did he same kind of work.) A lot of them are now posted on You-Tube. Scroll down to likely find them. The first film with solid rendered objects came out in 1977.

[@caniuysal8507]

charming and mystic

[@postingoldtapes]

This was 1975, and I believe it was before the invention of either sprites or any polygon drawing techniques. Dick Shoup built the first framebubber in 1974, Evans & Sutherland didn't make a commercial one until 1975. Frambuffers didn't have the power to draw like this for another decade. That's why I believe this was drawn on a vector display, which was filmed. The Star Wars animations (in Episode IV) were done in that way at the University of Chicago.

[@yosoylamono]

this was shown in our art classes and i loved it!! A W E S O M E ! ! !

[@u.v.s.5583]

Creativity. It is not exploring something that is just there (fractal zoom videos). It is understanding what you are creating, relations that weren't there before somebody did it. This is the way it should be.

[@stringercorrales6627]

The 80s started in the late 70s.

[@rhythmdroid]

beautiful!

[@vapourmile]

I've had a yen for computer graphics for years and its work which fuels my fascination with it because it makes you go "How did he do that?"

[@postingoldtapes]

Some of Whitney's stuff was on a mainframe, but he actually predated digital computers. Some of his earliest stuff was on analog computers, and before that he built clockwork mechanisms to create his work.

[@guimbadriver]

hey theres a movie called WESTWORLD is a movie from 1973 theres a take in a control room that a color computer screem shows a multicolor 3D triangles flying in the screem, its was the first computer graphics sample..

[@lawrencewraith]

thank you

[@postingoldtapes]

I do have "Catalog". These are from a VHS copy made from a LaserDisc called "Visual Pathfinders: John Whitney". I wish I owned the LD, but no such luck. The same tape also has a collection of the work of Oskar Fischinger.

[@wurnotantmlb]

Best youtube vídeo ever

[@postingoldtapes]

I'll be posting a few more Whitney animations in a few weeks.

[@JumpCheckProductions]

The stargate sequence in 2001 was done by Douglas Trumbull and was done with slit-scan photograpy.

[@EphemeralProductions]

This seems lame to us today, but you have to keep in mind that it was created in the mid 70's with the technology they had at the time. Still is it interesting. :)

[@RatTheHippie]

this is trippy...

[@wurnotantmlb]

Defenetelly looks how you would see music

[@postingoldtapes]

I'm not sure is John Whitney had anything to do with that, but his work predated 1973. He actually built clockworks to draw with light directly on film, then mechanical analog computers...digital computers only appeared fairly late in his career.

[@goddollars]

wow, i really love this im awaiting your other ones i posted a video response with the stuff i do, its kinda similar, but i use real lights/lasers and film it, then later edit cant wait to see the otherss

[@bedegleeson5837]

wow!

[@postingoldtapes]

I'm not sure exactly how Whitney accomplished what he did at the time. I'd love to read a book about him. I do that some of his early stuff was made by combining Lissajous patterns with shutters to cut up the forms as they were being traced on the film. The Wikipedia page on him has links to several books, but no real information.

[@GMRDUI]

That's some serious sin wave action ;3

[@postingoldtapes]

@jovansystem Oh man, that is a crying shame. Are any of his pure film works transferred properly, or did they use a low-res source for the whole thing? I've seen that happen, where the expected number of sales doesn't justify doing a proper transfer from the film elements and they just use a 3/4" tape of an old transfer.

[@Meteotrance]

the potential of analogue electronic is endless if use some controler like that on a digital technologie we can do more than a simple photorealistic digital image, especialy for morphing technique, im a synth musician and as the analogue moog synth we can do very imprevesible sound or image if we make an anlogue computer image.

[@postingoldtapes]

No problem.

[@IARRCSim]

It looks like a winamp visualization from 1975.

[@postingoldtapes]

I have the musician's name in the text right at the start of the video.

[@oliverecords8524]

Same thing on my end.

[@sinkirk]

Check out Wikipedia for some basic information as to how the works were created. Just search for ''John Whitney animator''

[@postingoldtapes]

It works for me from several computers. All I can figure is something on your system. Sorry.

[@fromexile]

Please do ; does anyone have "Yantra" by chance?

[@TomMinderson]

I thought 1961's "Catalog" was better, at least esthetically.

[@YouTuber-lf3nx]

こんなんコンピューターちゃうやん

[@LeKikoojap]

ZeIoft brought me here 😂👌

[@Awsomeaton]

It's actually "stargate" not "starfield".

[@TehranBatman]

music is persian though played with santoor instrument... not arabic!

[@shadefalcon8237]

+Tehran Batman arabesque is to invoke to the style of design (geometric patterns, lines flowing into each other) not a specific place reference....

[@mlrdmn]

amazing! Music sounds persian though..