The Utah Teapot
graphics.cs.utah.eduhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-23LgrFcvs
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
I was at the same event. I got to hold it. It was a bit of a thrill.
I love the association of University of Utah -> Utah teapot -> 3D computer graphics.
Incidentally, I've been following the incredible Interactive Graphics course on YouTube by Cem Yuksel (mentioned in TFA for his improved teapot): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVCuWQV_-Es&list=PLplnkTzzqs...
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)
FWIW, the article has been updated this year with a new version of the teapot.
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.
Ah, GLUT. It will not be missed.
FreeGLUT is still around and working well.
There is a teapot statue in Dublin, Ireland: https://maps.app.goo.gl/v2GjqYad9n7HhHgP8
I like that they used Comic Sans as font for the description.
Which begs the question: Why the Utah Teapot in Dublin, Ireland?
Seems to have been part of a bigger collection:
> The sculpture, titled Smithfield Utah, was created by artist Alan Butler. It was formally unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Alison Gilliland. It is the second of six new sculptures being created as part of Dublin City Council’s Sculpture Dublin initiative. The work was inspired by the shape of the Utah Teapot, a ‘virtual’ teapot form designed by mathematician Martin Newell in Utah in 1975. https://www.thejournal.ie/teapot-sculpture-smithfield-square...
Personally, it seems less like "Inspired by the shape of the Utah Teapot" and more something I'd create myself when I was a beginner with 3DS Max 9 back in the day. Most people will just see a normal teapot, a very small selection of niche visitors will recognize it as the Utah Teapot, available as a default object in 3DS Max since forever.
I bought one for my home, albeit a 4 person size instead of the original 2(forgot how much ml)
I have one, now I am wondering if it’s the big one.
I wanted to buy one some time ago but sadly they are not produced anymore because the factory burned down.
Anyone else getting a 418 error trying to access this site?
The "Wilhelm scream" of 3D.
I know it well from BeOS, and the Toy Story tea party scene.
Oh, and the 3D pipes screensaver.
Here is an old IBM research video on breaking the Utah teapot in 1989[1]
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'd 3D-print it, but I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to boil tea in it...
The pelican on the bike seems like the new teapot.
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...
Melitta/Friesland made it in different sizes. The smallest is squished-down, matching the 3D model's proportions a little bit more.
I have one at a prominent place in my home, next to a Luxo Jr lamp and ball, SGI badges and autographed photo of Lenna. Still looking for a terracotta rabbit.
Technically it's from Friesland, who had some sort of complex relationship with Melitta at the time (https://x.com/FrieslandPorzel/status/845221850900762625)
"Inspired by" might be better than "original pot" because as anyone can tell (including you!), they aren't 1:1 matches.
Almost any 3D artist doing objects, especially a new category of objects they haven't done before, will do so with 3 or more reference images from every angle and model based on those, pretty tightly initially at least. But even with that, you add your own style and taste into the modeled object, and almost never will say that what you referenced from is the "original object" in that manner.
"Inspired by" works well though and doesn't remove anyone's agency or lessen their "creation" of it :)
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 Utah Teapot, including warp nacelles, should really have a statue erected in its honor.
If there were a digital city somewhere on the net, accessible to everyone, that would be a great place to put it.
Does the Utah Teapot, pour tea well?
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 wonder the reasons for adding/removing the base rims over the years
The Utah Teapot is filled with fry sauce.
Don't forget the one rendered in the Commodore Amiga [1] in Realsoft 3D [2].
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].
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.
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.
>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.
The Stanford bunny seemed to also be better known that the Stanford dragon.
It also predates it by over 20 years
Maybe not for the younger generations. The teapot isn’t conducive to showing off many contemporary graphics techniques.