KEY POINTS:
Richard Simpson was one of a very few students to sign up to a paper in writing computer graphics at Otago University 30 years ago.
Back then it was a field of "strange mysticism" in New Zealand mostly used for making charts, drawings and in some space-invader
games, he says.
Simpson's family and friends thought he was raving mad and discouraged him from pursuing a career in the field, but he'd already decided on his calling.
So he studied architecture - which used computer graphics. Then he and a friend, Tony Doherty, launched Cadabra in the basement of the Guardian Trust building on Queen St.
It was New Zealand's first computer graphics company and Simpson describes it as the Bauhaus of the industry.
Relying on cashflow and heavy borrowing, and fuelled by coffee, a team of creative 20-somethings worked around the clock creating super-yacht animations for TVNZ, the designs for St Lukes shopping centre, the initial plans for the Sky Tower, and the height controls that now shape the skyline of Auckland's CBD.
The Christchurch Wizard once visited Cadabra's Auckland studios to see whether there was any magic to the firm's work, Simpson says.
"Working there was like living a part in a James Bond film. The basement of 105 Queen St was like Q's lab.
"One day we would be sitting around tables, with high-tech graphics consoles trying to solve mathematical or design problems, and the next we could be in the jungles of Cambodia, remote islands such as Palau, Guam, or in intense hyperactive metropolises like Bangkok, Shanghai and New York."
Before long Cadabra won business in the United States and Asia, and the company established offices overseas, well ahead of today's major players.
"Sometimes projects were dangerous, such as in Cambodia when two of us were ambushed by ex-Khmer Rouge bandits during a rural planning project we conducted for Prince Ranarit. There was nothing predictable about the work, and for that matter, the technology at the time."
Simpson watched as technology rapidly improved, studios sprung up Animation Research, Weta Workshop, Deep Animation, Right Hemisphere, Navmans, CWA and New Zealand's reputation, especially in the field of 3D computer graphics animation, soared.
"Internationally there still remains a strong perception of New Zealand as some cute place full of sheep herders and butter-churners," Simpson says.
"More recently, it could be argued, this image was shattered by an extensive marketing campaign by the Government levering off the visual strength of The Lord of the Rings, and the brilliant work of Weta."
Looking across at the CBD skyline he has helped shape, Simpson says he feels proud and privileged to have been involved in the foundation years of the computer graphics industry.
He says he's worked alongside people of tremendous creative talent and watched as the industry unleashed a new creative potential.
But in some respects, it is a little disappointing to look back at work from the early days, as it is all made to look so easy with do-it-yourself programmes available over the counter.
"We could never have dreamed the graphics processing power of today's PlayStation, Xbox, Mac or PC." Disk drive costs were exorbitant back then, and 3D computer graphics demanded huge storage.
Simpson remembers when the cost per megabyte was around $500. Today they are sold for a fraction of the cost.
"Businesses now give away multi-gigabyte USB keys. I recall when we bought the first 330-megabyte disk drives. Each was a very fragile unit half the size of a coffin and needed two people to carry it," he says.
New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance made buying high-tech equipment from the US very difficult at times.
"We were categorised as a 'Q' status country alongside Libya and Palestine. This made it difficult to buy cutting-edge technologies from the US.
"We had good friends in the US, and were able to find ways around some of the red tape."
Now it's Auckland's "woefully inadequate broadband" that is the greatest challenge to the local computer graphics industry, he says.
"More and more throughout the world, it is cities that compete rather than nations. Cities like Sydney, Wellington, Montreal, Vancouver and Seattle all have actively facilitated, improved broadband networks. Auckland remains a laggard," he says.
Reaching a "burn out" in 1993, Simpson left Cadabra but continued to work with the industry.
He then turned his skills to local projects when he took a seat on Auckland City Council in 2004 - his Eastern Motorway graphics in particular were widely publicised.
Now through his work with the University of Auckland as the business and innovation manager, Simpson uses computer graphics in the Physiome project a worldwide effort to map the human physiology.
He also recently joined the International Executive Committee for Digital Earth with Al Gore where computer graphics are used to map the earth.
And the other Cadabra staff? They can be found around the world working for Pixar or Industrial Light and Magic. Others have established their own computer graphics companies and sought international success.
"Cadabra has left a lasting legacy on New Zealand. It was in many ways a great training ground and a place of innovation," Simpson says.
He is still as excited about the future of computer graphics as he was as a student 30 years ago.
Now that it's a multi-billion dollar industry he hopes recognition will soon go beyond the Hollywood's "gee-whiz" special effects and pretty pictures. And he says the field may reach its greatest achievement when no one talks of a "computer graphics" industry.
"The defining moments for the industry will arrive when computer graphics techniques become so embedded into everyday life that they become invisible and taken for granted."
RICHARD SIMPSON
Computer graphics pioneer
Age: 47
Family: Wife Michele, Digby 7.
Born: Queensland, Australia, moved to New Zealand in 1975.
Education: St Paul's Collegiate, Hamilton.
Triple major in computer science, biochemistry and chemistry: Otago University; Victoria University.
Career: Managing director of computer graphics company Cadabra, then set up different companies before becoming executive director of Intergraph Corporation. Now international business development manager of UniServices, business and innovation manager of the Bioengineering Institute and Visible Learning lab at the University of Auckland.
Hobbies: Sailing, gardening at the Waiheke bach, spending time with family.
