Project Somnium

This is Toyo Link's "Project Somnium," a 1985 short claimed to be the world's first CGI film created for HDTV and recovered from the original 1985 analog HD master tape. Keep reading below to learn more about this incredibly special recording!

The title of "Project Somnium" was inspired by Johannes Kepler's novel, "Somnium," generally considered to be the first science-fiction novel. In a similar vein, this short film is generally considered to be the first CGI short created for HDTV and recorded to HD tape. Featuring a moon-walking, planet-morphing robot and a jammin' synth-funk soundtrack, the footage is memorable in more ways than one! This special recording was made by the Osaka University/Imagica collaboration, Toyo Links, and uses the 1982 LINKS-1 multi-microcomputer. Using the long-deprecated metaball geometry technique, along with a full environment & ray-traced reflections/lighting, this short 2-minute long production was an incredible feat of computing power at the time.This recording was made using the very first commercially-available HDTV hardware which was made available in 1984. This generation began with the release of Sony's 1st-generation "HDVS" (High Definition Video System) hardware which included the landmark Sony HDV-1000 HD Video Tape Recorder and the Sony HDC-100 HD Video Camera. Using 1" wide tape running at a speedy 48.3 cm/s (19 in/s), the 500lb HDV-1000 system was able to record up to 63 minutes of HD resolution video onto a 11.5" reel. The source material came from the HDC-100 which was a 22lb camera (without lens) which used three Saticon video tubes and a required a rack with 180lbs of additional processing and control equipment. All this equipment produced 1045i video which was very similar to modern, familiar 1080i video format. Soon other manufacturers, such as Hitachi & Toshiba, produced compatible equipment of their own. Eventually, a 2nd-generation HDTV system was developed in 1987, yet the original hardware continued to be occasionally used into the early 1990's. During this period of time, much of this hardware was used until worn or broken before being disposed of. Thus, OP at Reely Interesting is very honored to be able to bring you these very special captures from the few remaining examples of existing hardware.