Assembling Reality: Myths of Computer Graphics
Publication
Manovich, Lev. "Assembling Reality: Myths of Computer Graphics." Afterimage 20, no. 2 (September 1992): 12-14. Journal article.
Abstract
Some writers have suggested that computer graphics constitute a transformation in visuality more profound than the break that separates medieval imagery from Renaissance perspective. But in my view, the ability to generate three-dimensional stills does not represent a radical break comparable to the achievements of Giotto — a Renaissance painting and a computer image employ the same technique, a set of consistent depth cues, to create an illusion of space (existent or imaginary). The real break is the introduction of a moving synthetic image: interactive 3D computer graphics and computer animation. This article approaches the problem of "realism" in 3D computer animation starting from arguments advanced in film theory — by Bazin, Comolli, and Bordwell and Staiger—regarding cinematic realism and tests these models on the history of computer graphics research and commercial animation.
The article demonstrates that synthetic realism is fundamentally different from the realism of optical media, being partial and uneven rather than analog. The photorealistic simulation of "real scenes" is practically impossible, as techniques available to commercial animators only cover particular phenomena of visual reality—the animator can easily create the shape of a human face but not the hair, materials such as plastic or metal but not cloth or leather. This unevenness reflects the priorities of early research sponsors — the Pentagon and Hollywood — whose requirements determined the concentration of research on particular phenomena such as landscapes and moving figures. To support the idea of progress toward realism, researchers also privilege particular subjects that culturally connote the mastery of mimetic representation—smoke, fire, sea waves, moving grass — icons of mimesis that overcompensate for the inability to fully simulate real scenes. If we want to understand the transformations of contemporary visual culture, the problem of realism has to be studied afresh.