In 1969, Electrical Engineering’s Data Systems Group created a computer animation application along with the National Research Council Division of Radio, a government body in Canada dedicated to scientific research and innovation. They realized that computers could perform the work of assistants in traditional animation, who take key cel drawings done by artists and create the in-between images that give the illusion of movement and complete a sequence. Nestor Burtnyk developed a key frame animation application that could create entire film sequences once it had the key cel drawings. The groups invited director Peter Foldes to try the technology, resulting in the experimental footage for the short film Metadata (1971) and the 11-minute short The Hunger (1974).
Advancements in computer animation led to the development of computer generated images (CGI) to be used in live action films as special effects, now an almost ubiquitous practice. Futureworld (1976) used CGI to create digitized versions of a face and hand. The original Star Wars (1977) innovated with the view of the Death Star trench created completely in 3-D.
Early uses of computer animation to create fully realized characters include the personified binary digit Bit in Tron (1982). Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) introduced a knight character born from stained glass window elements that spoke and moved more intricately than the comparatively simple Bit. The knight was the creation of John Lasseter of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm known as the Graphics Group, which would then find new ownership and change its name to Pixar Animation Studios.
Beauty and the Beast (1991) was he first film to successfully incorporate 2-D and elements of 3-D computer animation at the same time. Jurassic Park (1993) is notable for its major implementation of photo-realistic animal characters created by computer animation, beginning a trend. Pixar's Toy Story (1995) was the first fully computer animated feature length movie. The other major studios began to follow suit with their own computer animation divisions.
Computer animators began attempting to create characters that realistically depict humans with the release of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001.) Robert Zemeckis has directed films attempting to accomplish this, often using the live action performance capture technique, including The Polar Express (2004). Many of these early efforts were met with criticism about realism, but director James Cameron won much acclaim for the innovations he brought to Avatar (2009), including creating realistic (human and otherworldly) characters, sequences and backgrounds.