Generation of Computer Imagery

CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) has forever changed the way cinema has incorporated special effects. It's often rare to view a film of today's era without some influence in digital enhancements. Some people have feared that CGI may one day replace physical actors and environments all together, like in Rober Zemeckis's 2004 film, The Polar Express were every character was animated through motion capture.

The first ever CGI rendered character to at least express emotion as a believable entity, appeared on Young Sherlock Holmes in 1985 known as the Stained Glass Knight. Lucasfilm created the first "photorealistic" computer generated character, within 10 seconds of screen time.