Nothing beats seeing vintage behind-the-scenes videos and featurettes that examine how scenes from our favorite space opera were created. An article posted over on MentalFloss.com takes a look back at how Star Wars animator Larry Cuba went about creating the famous Death Star computer animated graphics sequence:

"Way back in 1977, the original Star Wars movie was released, and so began our battle against the Empire. Among many other amazing things, the film featured a computer-animated graphics sequence — in which a 3D model of the Death Star is shown to pilots who are about to attack it. I remember as a kid seeing that computer graphics sequence and thinking, “Wow, computers in the future can do 3D!!!” Although it looks dated now, it was state-of-the-art at the time, and quite frankly it’s better than some “computer” sequences seen in similar vintage movies like Alien. Here’s a rare bit of a tape in which the animator, Larry Cuba, describes how he made the sequence."





Source: MentalFloss.com