I had the honor of hearing Carl Rosendahl speak the other night to students and faculty at Cogswell College in Silicon Valley (where I teach 3D Models and modeling and animation). Mr. Rosendahl is the founder and president of Pacific Data Images, one of the most important players in the 3D graphics world. Rosendahl founded PDI shortly after graduating from Stanford in 1979 on the assumption that computers could be put to work producing graphics. He was, of course, very far-sighted, and has earned the rewards of his vision. Today, PDI is 40 percent owned by Dreamworks (the Speilberg, Katzenberg, Geffen group), and is engaged primarily in the production of major animated motion pictures in competition with Pixar-Disney.
Mr. Rosendahl's observations on the big picture for 3D graphics were surprisingly appropriate to our current topic. He noted that 3D technology first earned
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