Screen Art
The HP 9845 not only promoted CRT displays as standard interactive visualization device for desktop computers, it also was capable of (compared to other systems of the time) tremendous computer graphics.
The HP 9845C was the very first color computer developed by Hewlett Packard and extended the visualization possibilities even further. It offered hardware accelerated vector drawing and polygon fill features, and even supported fast matrix operations for rendering 3D models. HP spent lots of design efforts in building high-quality, ergonomic display systems. Therefore, although mainly targeted to scientific and engineering applications, the 9845C was a multi-purpose graphics wonder.
This section shows a couple of examples, which shall give an idea, what the HP 9845 could do, and how it was used.
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The War Games Movie
The best-known application of an HP 9845C outside the scientific and engineering scene probably was John Badhams "War Games" from 1983.
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HP 9845C Demo
With the introduction of its first color computer ever, Hewlett Packard created this (at the time) mindblowing demo demonstrating the astonishing capabilities of this state-of-the-art system.
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By the way, taking good screen shots is a science itself. In the November 1, 1980 issue of HP Computer News the following mini-tutorial can be found, dedicated especially for taking shots from the 9845C "Photographing 9845C Images" by Rick Stahlin/DCD:
"Excellent color slides and prints can be obtained by directly photographing images displayed on the 9845C CRT. For best results, follow this procedure provided by Gerard Millhone at Colorado Viscomm, Inc.
- Place camera and 9845C in a totally dark room, with camera on a tripod and fitted with a cable release.
- Use a telephoto lens (~250mm) to correct for screen curvature and install a U.V. haze filter.
- Adjust lens to screen distance as appropriate (about 8 feet) to fill frame.
- Load camera with Ektrachrome 64 film for 35 mm slides or Kodacolor II for prints. Don't use faster film, which would limit resolution and cause excessive graininess.
- Adjust 9845C display intensity control for maximum brightness and set lens aperture to f16.
- Bracket exposure times at 2, 4 and 6 seconds.
- Send exposed film to a high quality, reliable lab for processing.
Voila, you have top quality photos for high-impact graphics presentations!"