Katrina Hu – Looking Outwards – 05

The Utah Teapot

The Utah Teapot is very commonly regarded as the most important object in computer graphics. Made by computer scientist Martin Newell in 1974 when he was a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, it was a breakthrough in 3D computer graphics. Newell was looking for new ways to make computer graphics look more realistic, and he needed a subject. The teapot was the perfect object for Newell to demonstrate his complex algorithms, as it had both concave and convex surfaces, and it cast shadows on itself.

I admire the simplicity yet effectiveness of this project. The teapot was not too simple nor too complicated, and it is easily recognizable. It also didn’t need a texture for the object to look realistic. This teapot eventually paved the way for lots of future computer graphics research, and both Adobe and Pixar got their start at the lab Newell worked at.