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Description
The IMI-500 is a stand-alone, stroke refresh system for 3-D graphics. It was used in 1983 to choreograph a scene from The Last Starfighter. The IMI-500 was used to simulate the Starcar.
In 1974, Dr. Alexander Schure, a wealthy entrepreneur, began to assemble the Computer Graphics Laboratory (CGL) at the New York Institute of Technology. His vision was to create a feature length animated film, with the aid of the days most sophisticated computer graphics techniques. New York Institute of Technology itself was founded by Dr. Schure, had grounds encompassing numerous estates situated in the beautiful wooded hillsides of Old Westbury New York. Some of these estates were owned by members of the Rockafeller family, who also happened to have a seat on the board of Evans & Sutherland. Because of the close association of Evans & Sutherland with the University of Utah, Dave Evans recommended to Alex to seek out Edwin Catmull to head the new Computer Graphics Laboratory. Ed Catmull had just finished his Ph.D. at Utah and taken a job at a CAD/CAM company called Applicon. It was not a hard sell to get Ed to leave Applicon for New York Institute of Technology however, so he and fellow Utah graduate Malcolm Blanchard packed their bags for New York. Alvy Ray Smith and David DiFrancesco (both fresh from Xerox PARC) joined the team a few months later in what was called the Gerry Mansion. Alvy and David had heard of Dr. Schure's plans from Martin Newell at Utah (whom Alex had just hired briefly as a consultant). Dr. Schure had recently come through Utah and literally ordered one of everything to jump start his New York Institute of Technology project. Some of this equipment included a DEC PDP-11, a new E&S LDS-1 and the first random access frame buffer also from Evans & Sutherland. Later, the Computer Graphics Laboratory group would also receive the very first commercial VAX.

Description
The IMI-500 is a stand-alone, stroke refresh system for 3-D graphics. It was used in 1983 to choreograph a scene from The Last Starfighter. The IMI-500 was used to simulate the Starcar.
In 1974, Dr. Alexander Schure, a wealthy entrepreneur, began to assemble the Computer Graphics Laboratory (CGL) at the New York Institute of Technology. His vision was to create a feature length animated film, with the aid of the days most sophisticated computer graphics techniques. New York Institute of Technology itself was founded by Dr. Schure, had grounds encompassing numerous estates situated in the beautiful wooded hillsides of Old Westbury New York. Some of these estates were owned by members of the Rockafeller family, who also happened to have a seat on the board of Evans & Sutherland. Because of the close association of Evans & Sutherland with the University of Utah, Dave Evans recommended to Alex to seek out Edwin Catmull to head the new Computer Graphics Laboratory. Ed Catmull had just finished his Ph.D. at Utah and taken a job at a CAD/CAM company called Applicon. It was not a hard sell to get Ed to leave Applicon for New York Institute of Technology however, so he and fellow Utah graduate Malcolm Blanchard packed their bags for New York. Alvy Ray Smith and David DiFrancesco (both fresh from Xerox PARC) joined the team a few months later in what was called the Gerry Mansion. Alvy and David had heard of Dr. Schure's plans from Martin Newell at Utah (whom Alex had just hired briefly as a consultant). Dr. Schure had recently come through Utah and literally ordered one of everything to jump start his New York Institute of Technology project. Some of this equipment included a DEC PDP-11, a new E&S LDS-1 and the first random access frame buffer also from Evans & Sutherland. Later, the Computer Graphics Laboratory group would also receive the very first commercial VAX.