It is regrettable that aside from eye-catching effects in cartoons, movies and television ads, the general public doesn't get to witness the incredible progression of computer graphics. Mass-market movies such as Antz and A Bug's Life, for instance, represent just a small part of the technological and expressive innovation that the technology makes possible.

Every year, computer graphics professionals are treated to a show of cutting-edge work that we civilians seldom glimpse. The venue is an international conference called Siggraph-the Association for Computing Machinery's special interest group for graphics. At the 1998 gathering in Orlando, the hottest ticket this side of Disney World was for the Electronic Theater. There were only seven showings of this program offering the best of computer graphics: scientific visualizations, technical breakthroughs, artistic statements, commercial appeals, student demos and yes, the latest in Hollywood special effects and animation.