Volume 9–2 (Low Res).pdf

22
Picture this scene, dear readers, artists, designers,
production people and graphic communicators of
all persuasions: One fine morning you roll out of
bed, slip into your jeans, slurp some coffee and head
for the studio. But when you arrive, your workspace
has metamorphosed into something quite unrecognizable.
The drawing tables are gone. Likewise the
tracing pads, T-squares, pencils, Pentels, paints,
brushes, inks, pens, airbrush, photostat machine,
slide viewers, lucies, storage files, paper cutters, rubber
cement, etc., etc., etc. In their place is an array of
electronic gear— digitizing tablets, electronic pens,
video display terminals with keyboards and TV color
monitors.
No, this is not a scenario for a nightmare or a science
fiction movie about the distant future. It is a forecast
of imminent events in the world of graphic arts.To be
perfectly truthful, the "imminent" is already happening.
Like business offices, newspapers, banks, air-
line reservation desks, biomedical labs, credit offices,
aerospace centers and supermarket checkout
counters—graphics are going computer! If the
thought of it fills you with apprehension, the sight of
computer-assisted graphics will fill you with awe.
No warm-blooded graphics person will be able to
resist a hands-on experience.
To see just how graphics by computer works, a few
U&Ic staff members took a trip out to Old Westbury,
Long Island, New York. There, nestled in the gentle
rolling terrain that was once the playground of the truly
rich (and pastureland for their truly thoroughbred
horses) is the campus of a unique high-tech training
institution, The New York Institute of Technology.
NYIT is a private college which offers undergraduate
and graduate programs in computer sciences, electrical,
mechanical, industrial and aerospace engineering
— all geared to the needs of science and industry.
Separated by a parking lot, and in sharp contrast to
the sprawling, low-slung modern buildings of the
main campus, stands a romantic Old World vintage
manor house. This is the home of the Computer
Graphics Laboratory of NYIT. A step through its door
is like a step into a time warp. Outside, a timeless
pastoral scene of ancient trees and silent, sleepy
meadows; inside, a dizzying wonderland of technological
fireworks.
The Computer Graphics Laboratory (CGL) is a research
and development arm of NYIT where artists,
Ph.D. engineers, computer programmers and student
interns work cheek-by-jowl with each other and with
millions of dollars' worth of electronic hardware.
Their combined purpose is to advance the state of
the art of computer graphics. In addition, CGL is a
training center for students and personnel of organi-
Artists
In
wonderland
A From a single photographic image, the artist can manipulate the
computer to flop, overlap, distort, replicate and create collage effects.
B "Nudes Ascending the Staircase" demonstrates other aspects of computer
versatility, from wire frame drawings, familiar to animation artists,
to the fleshed out three-dimensional figure.
C Starting with a visual concept by the artist, and with the assistance of a
production engineer; this three-dimensional ant was rendered in full color
entirely by computer.
D Through instructions to the computer; the artist can invent an infinite
variety of brushstrokes. Here a single broad band, shaded from light to
dark, is employed to create an abstract ribbon design.
E& F Typography as well as figurative images and abstract forms can be
flopped in any direction, curved, scaled and maneuvered for design
purposes through the use of the computer