I saw the Utah Teapot at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View when I visited in late 2004. I didn't know it was there. I immediately started calling friends, while standing there in the "Visible Storage" exhibit gawking at it, telling each of them, breathlessly: "I'm looking at _the_ Utah teapot."
I was told later by a docent that my reaction was not uncommon. >smile<
I work at the University of Utah. They had an incredible graphics symposium a few years ago[0]. I got a render of the teapot signed by several of the speakers, which is a prized possession. There was another guy there with an actual replica teapot which he got signed. I was pretty jealous.
Sadly Alan Kay was unable to attend so I didn't get to meet him.
I did the high school summer computing institute at the U in the early 2000s. The first part of it was working with C shape edit and doing graphics with alpha_1 and a bunch of other fun things, the second part was building a rover in Lisp.
Alpha_1 has a direct lineage from the development of the teapot and was the basis of Featurecam
Tangential & graphics-related: there is a story where Jim Foley requested a pirated Eastern European copy of his text (… which heavily features the Utah teapot) as a souvenir.
He found it hilarious that every single equation in the pirated book were reverse images.
I was just discussing with my coworker how the demo program for the 3D Spacemouse is rotating the Teapot. Takes a bit of practice, but makes CAD more fun.
I’ve had both an original Friesland/Melitta Utah Teapot and the ~2017 reissue.
The interiors differ between the original and the reissue. The latter has an integrated ceramic strainer near the spout root not present on these models updated interior geometry.
The Utah Teapot predates the Stanford Dragon by 20 years, and was already famous in graphics (at Siggraph, for example) and had a cameo in Toy Story before the dragon was made.
I saw the Utah Teapot at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View when I visited in late 2004. I didn't know it was there. I immediately started calling friends, while standing there in the "Visible Storage" exhibit gawking at it, telling each of them, breathlessly: "I'm looking at _the_ Utah teapot."
I was told later by a docent that my reaction was not uncommon. >smile<
Does the Utah Teapot, pour tea well?
I work at the University of Utah. They had an incredible graphics symposium a few years ago[0]. I got a render of the teapot signed by several of the speakers, which is a prized possession. There was another guy there with an actual replica teapot which he got signed. I was pretty jealous.
Sadly Alan Kay was unable to attend so I didn't get to meet him.
[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui3R1Dlmsk0
I was at the same event. I got to hold it. It was a bit of a thrill.
I did the high school summer computing institute at the U in the early 2000s. The first part of it was working with C shape edit and doing graphics with alpha_1 and a bunch of other fun things, the second part was building a rover in Lisp.
Alpha_1 has a direct lineage from the development of the teapot and was the basis of Featurecam
Related. Others?
The original Utah teapot(1.4L) is in stock - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31178947 - April 2022 (7 comments)
Why a Computer History Museum Owns a Legendary Teapot - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29259548 - Nov 2021 (1 comment)
Show HN: Teapong – A two-player game for fans of Pong and the Utah teapot - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22137758 - Jan 2020 (12 comments)
Bézier Curves and Surfaces: The Utah Teapot - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19690575 - April 2019 (7 comments)
The Utah Teapot: Most Important Object in Computer Graphics History - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209690 - March 2016 (52 comments)
Utah Teapot - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7280289 - Feb 2014 (17 comments)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/327233836465
FWIW, the article has been updated this year with a new version of the teapot.
There is a teapot statue in Dublin, Ireland: https://maps.app.goo.gl/v2GjqYad9n7HhHgP8
Anyone else getting a 418 error trying to access this site?
I first saw Utah Teapot in OpenGL:
https://www.opengl.org/resources/libraries/glut/spec3/node89...
Surprised to see the teapot got another update this year.
The "Wilhelm scream" of 3D.
Here is an old IBM research video on breaking the Utah teapot in 1989[1]
1. https://youtu.be/3NQuHpUyZbI?is=sjkQcadU6_IHjgr0
Tangential & graphics-related: there is a story where Jim Foley requested a pirated Eastern European copy of his text (… which heavily features the Utah teapot) as a souvenir.
He found it hilarious that every single equation in the pirated book were reverse images.
The pelican on the bike seems like the new teapot.
I was just discussing with my coworker how the demo program for the 3D Spacemouse is rotating the Teapot. Takes a bit of practice, but makes CAD more fun.
The original pot is from Melitta [0]. The 3D model seems a bit squished down though.
[0] https://spectrum.ieee.org/behold-the-worlds-most-famous-teap...
Technically it's from Friesland, who had some sort of complex relationship with Melitta at the time (https://x.com/FrieslandPorzel/status/845221850900762625)
I’ve had both an original Friesland/Melitta Utah Teapot and the ~2017 reissue.
The interiors differ between the original and the reissue. The latter has an integrated ceramic strainer near the spout root not present on these models updated interior geometry.
This listing appears to show a “vintage” teapot with the strainer on photo 8 - so I guess the plot steepens: https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/melitta-friesland-minden-teekann...
I know it well from BeOS, and the Toy Story tea party scene.
Oh, and the 3D pipes screensaver.
The Utah Teapot is filled with fry sauce.
I wonder the reasons for adding/removing the base rims over the years
Don't forget the one rendered in the Commodore Amiga [1] in Realsoft 3D [2].
[1] https://www.meskanen.com/history.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realsoft_3D
I always knew about/used teapot in game engines and what not, but never knew the origin.
I guess they want to make their mark like Stanford dragon[0].
0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_dragon
>I guess they want to make their mark like Stanford dragon
I'd say the Utah teapot is much better known in CG circles than the Stanford dragon.
It also predates it by over 20 years
The Stanford bunny seemed to also be better known that the Stanford dragon.
Maybe not for the younger generations. The teapot isn’t conducive to showing off many contemporary graphics techniques.
Some notable names in computer graphics associated with the University of Utah:
- Ed Catmull
- Raphael Rom
- Henri Gouraud
- Jim Blinn
- Bui Ton Phong
I think they “made their mark” when they essentially invented 3D graphics.
The Utah Teapot predates the Stanford Dragon by 20 years, and was already famous in graphics (at Siggraph, for example) and had a cameo in Toy Story before the dragon was made.