Computer Simulation and the History of Illusion
Information:
Lev Manovich, Computer Simulation and the History of Illusion, 1999.
From the article:
Zeuxis was a legendary Greek painter who lived in the fifth century BC. The story of his competition with Parrhasius exemplifies the concern with illusionism, which was to occupy Western art throughout much of its history. According to the story, Zeuxis painted grapes with such a skill that the birds begun to fly down trying to eat from the painted vine.
RealityEngine is a high-performance graphics computer which was manufactured by Silicon Graphics Inc. in the last decade of the twentieth century AC. Optimized to generate real time interactive photorealistic 3D graphics, it is used to create computer games and special effects for feature films and TV, to run scientific visualization models and computer-aided design software. Last but not least, RealityEngine is routinely employed to run high-end VR environments - this latest achievement in West's struggle to outdo Zeuxis.