I believe there were several instances of CGI prior to 1974, but I'm not 100% sure. Early computer animation is fascinating to me, though admittedly more so in the '80s when it actually began taking shape as a valid medium of animation rather than simply being test projects. I still have all those VHS compilations: 'Computer Animation Magic' (1986), 'State of the Art Computer Animation' (1988), the 'Mind's Eye' series (1990), etc.
I so much vastly prefer classic computer animation to modern: because of the technological limitations of the time, animators were far more daring and original in creating fantastic and bizarre designs and imagery completely exclusive to the medium. Now everything looks so photorealistic, it kind of makes me think of stereoscopic 3D in comparison to the gimmicky throw-stuff-at-the-screen 3D: it may be a gorgeous technological breakthrough in and of itself, but there's a part of me which sorely misses the charm of the original novelty of CGI/3D to begin with.
