Computer graphics have revolutionized the way we experience cinema. From giant spaceships to realistic dinosaurs, our ability to produce stunning critters and machines is getting ever more advanced. But how do they work exactly?

When computer graphics were non-existent, or in their early phase, directors used costumes or large set props to portray aliens or monsters. Everyone has seen a movie featuring dated computer graphics. Those programmers were trying, of course, but they didn't have the modern luxury of our multicore processors. Ever heard of the pixar render farm? It's the place where Pixar does all of their computations for their scenes. Here's a link, it's HUGE. http://www.slashfilm.com/cool-stuff-a-look-at-pixar-and-lucasfilms-renderfarms/

Nowadays Hollywood uses a specific type of algorithm called a "raytracing" algorithm to make their impeccable CGI. Ray tracing works the exact same way our eyes work! The computer models a ray of light (Rays are to a three dimensional space as lines are to a two dimensional space) passing through a lens (a camera). The ray of light then "hits" an object in the scene and then reflects back to the camera! Pretty neat, huh?

When I studied computer graphics in college I wrote my own Raytracer. It's thousands of line of code, and while it's not the longest program I've ever written it is still extremely complex. Currently it can only handle spheres and triangles, but in reality that's all you really need! Most computer graphics models are made from what we call "meshes." Meshes are, at their core, just a large number of triangles! Go ahead and google "Meshes" and take a look under the google images tab to see some examples!

There are still many open questions in the field of computer graphics. If you've seen the movie "Frozen" (who hasn't?) you've reaped the benefits of one of the recently solved graphics problems that had stumped researchers for a long time, and that's how to model snow realistically. SIGGRAPH (http://www.siggraph.org/) is an academic organization dedicated to the research and development of computer graphics. Every year they release a video on some of the accomplishments researchers around the world have solved in the field of computer graphics. They have an archive on their website, so what are you waiting for? Go and find out how many of your favorite movies are using the latest computer graphics research!