NINE: The Twelve Links of Christmas 2022*: A Biography of the Pixel

A Biography of the Pixel, by Alvy Ray Smith

Are you perhaps of the opinion that a pixel is a little square of color abutting other squares? And that digital pictures are comprised of millions of these? I once thought so. But no, silicon breath, are we ever wrong about that—and Alvy Ray Smith III, the cofounder of Pixar, is here to explain it to us. A pixel is actually not a little square, and never was. (It's a point, with a spreader function applied to it, spoiler alert.)

If you want a brief explanation, go to Alvy Ray's talk at Town Hall Seattle, start the video at 25:15, and follow it for ten minutes or so to 35:44. 

The pixel as the organizing principle of all pictures, from cave paintings to Toy Story
The Great Digital Convergence of all media types into one universal digital medium occurred, with little fanfare, at the recent turn of the millennium. The bit became the universal medium, and the pixel—a particular packaging of bits—conquered the world. Henceforward, nearly every picture in the world would be composed of pixels—cell phone pictures, app interfaces, Mars Rover transmissions, book illustrations, videogames. In A Biography of the Pixel, Pixar cofounder Alvy Ray Smith argues that the pixel is the organizing principle of most modern media, and he presents a few simple but profound ideas that unify the dazzling varieties of digital image making.

Smith's story of the pixel's development begins with Fourier waves, proceeds through Turing machines, and ends with the first digital movies from Pixar, DreamWorks, and Blue Sky. Today, almost all the pictures we encounter are digital—mediated by the pixel and irretrievably separated from their media; museums and kindergartens are two of the last outposts of the analog. Smith explains, engagingly and accessibly, how pictures composed of invisible stuff become visible—that is, how digital pixels convert to analog display elements. Taking the special case of digital movies to represent all of Digital Light (his term for pictures constructed of pixels), and drawing on his decades of work in the field, Smith approaches his subject from multiple angles—art, technology, entertainment, business, and history. A Biography of the Pixel is essential reading for anyone who has watched a video on a cell phone, played a videogame, or seen a movie. 400 pages of annotations, prepared by the author and available online, provide an invaluable resource for readers. (Publisher's description.)

One interesting fact I came upon early: he points out that almost all pictures are digital now, and that analog pictures have all but vanished, their number no more than a rounding error now compared to the great avalanche of digital pictures. And as they say above, he names museums and kindergartens as about the only places left where you can reliably encounter analog pictures on a regular basis.

It also tells the story of CGI; why the denizens of the Computer Division at Lucasfilm all got fired (because George Lucas got divorced and had to raise money for the divorce settlement); and the founding of Pixar. By the way, the first fully computer-generated movie sequence in a major motion picture happened in 1982, "with our one-minute 'Genesis' sequence in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It showed a bare planet catching on fire, melting, and then forming mountains and seas and green forests." They were working on the software in advance of Moore's Law, knowing that at some point in the future they'd have the computing power they would need to use it.

You should be able to tell from all this if you need to read this book or not! It's very engagingly written, something I can discern despite the fact that I am somewhat underwater as I read it. In school I was the arty guy, not the sciency guy. The paperback is 560 pages. It looks fascinating, and if I were younger I'd be game, but when I contemplate it at my age I'm sorta like a hiker looking across at the distant far side of a swamp...prior to setting off, I just can't picture myself not getting bogged down. We'll see, though. It's on my list.

And it could be perfect for someone on your gift list. Check it out.

Mike

*A list of a dozen beautiful gifty things in the spirit of the season.

Original contents copyright 2022 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

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Comments

[Bob Johnston]

Here's the thing. Traditional silver halide negatives are really 'digital'. At least they consist of crystals that are either turned to silver or not. The tones are created by the number of crystals in any given area. Whereas digital cameras are analogue, at least at the beginning of the imaging chain. Each sensel is a photodiode whose charge is proportional to the intensity of light. Then the voltages thus obtained have to be converted to digital bits in an analogue to digital converter.

[Richard Parkin]

I like Bob Johnston’s redefinition! Weren’t many early cave paintings digital? Many were made by or with the aid of digits and many feature digits as their subjects ;-) .

[robert e]

What a fascinating recommendation. Thanks!