Captain Disillusion's VFXcool episode, led by Alan Melikdjanian, takes a 41-minute nostalgic look at how the visual effects of Flight of the Navigator were made. It covers early computers, motion control, in-camera effects and practical crafts.
Why Hacker News points people here: Strongly recommended as a detailed, entertaining history of 1980s CGI and film techniques, including the role of the Foonly F1.
“I highly recommend this video on the making of Flight of the Navigator.”HN comment, 2021
“I highly recommend this video on the making of Flight of the Navigator.”
Detailed, entertaining look at 1980s CGI-in-film techniques
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Missing from this list: the Foonly F1, used to create the animations in Tron (1982) and later to render the spaceship in Flight of the Navigator (1986) - of note as the first use of reflection mapping in a motion picture. I highly recommend this video on the making of Flight of the Navigator. Apart from being highly entertaining, it also goes into stunning detail on all the special effects, in particular how exactly one goes about putting CGI into film in the 1980s (as the narrator points out - Final Cut Pro hadn't been invented yet!). this video
Strongly recommendsaskiiartJan 2023
“A fantastic video detailing the VFX of Flight of the Navigator.”
Detailed breakdown of the VFX of Flight of the Navigator
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See also: Flight of the Navigator | VFXCool - Captain Disillusion A fantastic video detailing the VFX of Flight of the Navigator. this video
Strongly recommendsdTalJan 2023
“I cannot recommend it enough”
Comprehensive VFX history including the Foonly F1 role
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This comprehensive video on the special effects of Flight of the Navigator, including the role of the Foonly F1, is one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen on YouTube. I cannot recommend it enough: this video <edit: I see that someone else has already posted this video. However, I'm going to leave this comment up because holy shit watch it >
RecommendslowdestJun 2021
“did a great video recently on Flight of the Navigator”
Captain Disillusion on the effects of Flight of the Navigator
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Slightly off topic, but Captain Disillusionment did a great video recently on Flight of the Navigator: this video
Cites itNoumenon72Apr 2025
Explains how the ship was filmed, using a pylon
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The pylon holding up the ship out of frame reminded me of the Captain Disillusion video on how they did the ship in Flight of the Navigator. this video
Cites itKyeNov 2025
Source for how renders were sent directly to film
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For Flight of the Navigator (1986) they sent renders of the ship directly to film because the system could only hold one frame at a time. this video
