But if this correct it would actually predate the Kitty animation. Are the computing history/pioneer claims on most of the web wrong? (do a search for Sergey Lebedev and Konstantinov and Kitty and you get claims everywhere that it was the first ever animation ...)
It probably depends on what you mean by "animation". One of the very first animations was a hula girl programmed on the AN/FSQ-7 console (part of the SAGE interception system). It was also interactive. She would dance to music played through the console's buzzer when you used the switches. If you used the light gun on her navel, her skirt would fall off.
Operators report seeing it in use around 1960. No pictures are known to exist,but I would guess that it switches between a couple fixed poses rather than being a full animation.
Bit of risque fun for the all-male crews of the time, but it also served as a diagnostic program. Similarly (but much later) SpaceWars would be used as a diagnostic program by DEC technicians. Those type of simple games exercise a variety of subsystems pretty well.
OK I posted too quickly. I realize most sites make the claim of the first animated arts being done by Konstantinov which is different from the claim of first animation ever.
I remember seeing the first computer animations in the 60's. There was something magical and exciting about it. No one will ever experience that culture shift again, as we are all jaded by cumulative accomplishments.
Growing up in the 80's and 90's I thought the same thing about video game graphics. How could this stuff get any better? Whenever I get too satisfied about how far things have come in always remind myself of that. At some point computer graphics will be so realistic we won't be able to distinguish it from reality.
I love the simplicity of the algorithms too - they looks so nice on a vector-esque display! I had to test out that PLYGN function: http://mrspeaker.github.io/old-anims/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O4mm3hXNgA
But if this correct it would actually predate the Kitty animation. Are the computing history/pioneer claims on most of the web wrong? (do a search for Sergey Lebedev and Konstantinov and Kitty and you get claims everywhere that it was the first ever animation ...)