Mathematics Application Group, Inc., aka MAGI (of Elmsford, New York), was an early innovator company in the area of computer graphics. They are particularly well known for their work in television and film.
Ray casting (a simplified type of ray tracing) for producing computer graphics was first used by scientists at MAGI[1]. In 1966 the company was created to perform radiation exposure calculations for the Department of Defense. MAGI's software calculated not only how the gamma rays bounced off surfaces (ray casting for radiation had been done since the 1940s), but also how they penetrated and refracted within. These studies helped the government to determine certain military applications; constructing military vehicles that would protect troops from radiation, designing re-entry vehicles for space exploration. Under the direction of Dr. Philip Mittelman, the scientists developed a method of generating images using the same basic software. In 1972 MAGI became a commercial animation studio. This studio used ray casting to generate 3-D computer animation for television commercials, educational films, and eventually feature films. They are credited with the first computer-generated imagery television advertisement, for IBM. Perhaps their most famous work is their lightcycles and tanks for the film Tron (1982).
MAGI went out of business in 1985.
References
- ^ Goldstein, R. A., and R. Nagel. 3-D visual simulation. Simulation 16(1), pp. 25–31, 1971.
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