Editing Timeline of computer animation (section)

== 1980s ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Film
!Year
!Notes
|-
|''[[Looker]]''
|align="center" |1981
|First computer-generated model of a whole [[human body]]. Also, first use of 3-D shaded CGI.<ref name=filmsite10/><ref name=Netzley49>{{cite book | last = Netzley | first = Patricia D | title = Encyclopedia of Movie Special Effects | publisher = Checkmark Books | year = 2001 | page = 49}}</ref>
|-
|''[[The Works (film)|The Works]]''
|rowspan=3 align="center" |1982
|The [[New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab]] debuted a trailer at [[SIGGRAPH]] for their CGI project. This would have been the first feature-length CGI film, but it was never completed.
|-
|''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''
|[[Industrial Light & Magic|ILM]] computer graphics division develops "Genesis Effect", the first use of a fractal-generated landscape in a film.<ref name="wpost-incredible">{{cite news|author=Pegoraro, Rob|date=June 29, 2008|title=Incredibles, Inc; The story of how computer programmers transformed the art of movie animation|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|page=W8}}</ref> Bill Reeves leads the Genesis Effect programming team, and creates a new graphics technique called "Particle Systems". Added to the United States National Film Registry in 2024.
|-
|''[[Tron]]''
|First extensive use of CGI including the [[Light Cycle]] sequence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://design.osu.edu/carlson/history/tron.html|title=Tron - The 1982 movie|access-date=2010-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525083246/http://design.osu.edu/carlson/history/tron.html|archive-date=2009-05-25|url-status=dead}}</ref> Also includes very early facial animation (for the [[List of Tron characters#Master Control Program|Master Control Program]]). A sequence of 15 minutes of the film was fully computer-generated.
|-
|''[[Return of the Jedi]]''
|rowspan=4 align="center" |1983
|First ''Star Wars'' film to use shaded CGI. Translucent shaded models were used for the holographic diagram of the second Death Star orbiting Endor during the Rebel briefing sequence. Added to the United States National Film Registry in 2021.
|-
|''[[Rock & Rule]]''
|First animated film to use computer graphics.<ref name="filmsite11">{{cite web |url=http://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects12.html |title=Greatest Visual and Special Effects (F/X) - Milestones in Film, 1980-1982 | last = Dirks | first = Tim |website= Filmsite.org | publisher = Filmsite}}</ref>
|-
|''[[Golgo 13: The Professional|Golgo 13]]''
|First Japanese animated film to incorporate CGI sequences.<ref name = CBM>{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=David |title=Comic Book Movies |publisher=Virgin Books |isbn=0-7535-0767-6 |date=2003|page=27}}</ref> Entirely digital models of revolvers, skeletons, helicopters, and skyscrapers (created by Toyo Links Corporation and [[Osaka University]]'s CG division) are used in the film's title sequence and part of the climax; the remainder of the film is [[traditional animation|traditionally animated]] by [[TMS Entertainment|Tokyo Movie Shinsha]].
|-
|''[[Dream Flight]]''
| First 3-D generated film telling a story, shown in Electronic Theater in SIGGRAPH '83.
|-
|''[[The Last Starfighter]]''
|rowspan=4 align="center" |1984
|Uses CGI for all spaceship shots, replacing traditional models. First use of "integrated CGI" where the effects are supposed to represent real world objects.<ref name="filmsite11"/>
|-
|''[[Lensman: Secret of The Lens]]''
|Uses CGI for spaceships and other scenes.
|-
|''[[The Adventures of André and Wally B.]]''
|[[Lucasfilm]]'s computer animation division creates an all-CGI-animated short. The first CGI animation with [[motion blur]] effects and [[squash and stretch]] motion.
|-
|''[[2010: The Year We Make Contact]]''
|[[Jupiter]]'s turbulent atmosphere is CGI-rendered, mostly during the black spot shots.
|-
|''[[Tony de Peltrie]]''
|rowspan=4 align="center" |1985
|First CGI-animated human character to express emotion through his face and body language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.12/3.12pages/townsendcanada.php3|title=Along the Banks of the St. Lawrence<!-- Bot generated title -->|website=awn.com}}</ref>
|-
|''[[The Jetsons]]'' & ''[[Yogi's Treasure Hunt]]''
|The first animated series to use digital ink and paint.
|-
|''[[Young Sherlock Holmes]]''
|[[Lucasfilm]] creates the first [[Rendering (computer graphics)|photorealistic]] CGI character, "[[stained glass]] knight" with 10 seconds of screentime.<ref name=Netzley246>Netzley, p. 246.</ref><ref name="filmsite12">{{cite web |url=http://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects12.html |title=Greatest Visual and Special Effects (F/X) - Milestones in Film, 1983-1985 | last = Dirks | first = Tim |website= Filmsite.org | publisher = Filmsite}}</ref>
|-
|"[[Money for Nothing (song)#Music video|Money for Nothing]]"
|The first computer-generated [[music video]].<ref name=filmsite12/> The animators would go on to found [[Mainframe Entertainment]].
|-
|''[[Labyrinth (1986 film)|Labyrinth]]''
|rowspan=7 align="center" |1986
|First realistic [[Computer-generated imagery|CGI]] [[animal]].<ref name=filmsite12/>
|-
|''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]''
|The first Disney film to extensively use computer animation --notably for the two-minute clock tower sequence.
|-
|''[[Flight of the Navigator]]''
|The first use of [[reflection mapping]] in a [[feature film]], used for the flying alien [[spacecraft]].<ref name=filmsite12/>
|-
|''[[Howard the Duck (film)|Howard the Duck]]''
|First digital wire removal in a feature film.<ref name=filmsite12/> First use of the [[Pixar Image Computer]] in film.<ref>[https://beforesandafters.com/2021/05/20/vfx-firsts-what-was-the-first-digital-wire-removal-shot-in-a-film/ VFX Firsts: What was the first digital wire-removal shot in a film? - befores & afters]</ref>
|-
|''[[Luxo Jr.]]''
|First use of [[shadow]]s in [[Computer-generated imagery|CGI]], made with the specially developed software [[RenderMan Interface Specification|Photorealistic Renderman]]. First [[Pixar]] film, and first CGI film to be nominated for an [[Academy Award]]. Added to the United States National Film Registry in 2014.
|-
|''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home]]''
|First use of the [[Cyberware (company)|Cyberware]] [[3-D scanner]], first 3-D [[morphing]].<ref name=filmsite12/>
|-
| ''[[The Golden Child]]''
|First use of primitive photorealistic morphing.<ref name="filmsite13">{{cite web |url=http://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects13.html |title=Greatest Visual and Special Effects (F/X) - Milestones in Film, 1986-1988 | last = Dirks | first = Tim |website= Filmsite.org | publisher = Filmsite}}</ref>
|-
|''[[Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future]]''
|rowspan=3 align="center" |1987
|First [[TV series]] to include characters modeled entirely with [[computer]]s.
|-
|''[[Knightmare (TV series)|Knightmare]]''
|First [[game show]] with interaction between humans and computer-generated surroundings.
|-
|''[[Rendez-vous in Montreal]]''
|First 3-D generated film involving [[virtual actors]] Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart
|-
|''[[Willow (1988 film)|Willow]]''
|rowspan=3 align="center" |1988
|First extensive photorealistic use of CGI morphing effect in a [[feature film]].<ref name=Netzley239>Netzley, p. 239.</ref>
|-
|''[[Akira (1988 film)|Akira]]''
|CGI is used to animate the pattern indicator, and to plot the paths of falling objects, model parallax effects on backgrounds, and tweak lighting and lens flares.<ref name="CBM" />
|-
|''[[Tin Toy]]''
|First computer-animated short film to win an [[Academy Award]]. Added to the United States National Film Registry in 2003.
|-
|''[[The Abyss]]''
|rowspan=3 align="center"|1989
|First digital CGI water visual effect.<ref name=netzley50>Netzley, p. 50.</ref>
|-
|''[[The Jim Henson Hour]]''
|TV series with real-time and rendered CGI featuring digitally puppeteered CGI character "Waldo."
|-
|''Les Fables géométriques''
|First broadcast series of animated CGI shorts.
|}