In Part Two Alan Kitching gives a detailed account of his own creation: Antics. In the last issue, I gave a general outline of the different types of computer graphics […]

Frame-grabbing is used to feed images direct into the machine with a video camera, scanner, or any similar gadget and there are facilities for retouching, tinting, colour balance, posterising, solarising, […]

Camera FX are much the same as on a rostrum camera, but much more flexible, for example, drawings and cels can zoom independently of backgrounds and other drawings., so an […]

Cartoon production with Antics generally involves a blend of all these techniques. Some are extremely easy, others are quite difficult. Careful planning is essential, right from storyboard stage, to get […]

In contrast, Antics began as a concept, a clear vision of an “ideal” animation machine, which grew out of my previous ten years experience in conventional animation, graphic design, and […]

There are many myths and mis-conceptions about what computer animation can and cannot do. Alan Kitching attempts to clarify things and answer the commonest questions. “Animation” is often synonymous with […]

There is now a huge variety of paintbox systems on the market, varying from low-cost PC systems for business graphics and slides, up to expensive high- resolution systems for full-colour […]

They work by first creating a 3-D model of an object inside the machine. Various ways of doing this include building it up mathematically from geometric shapes like spheres, cubes […]

A comment by Ken Clark Computer games are limited in their ability to produce a graphic display by the K-factor. 16K cannot be expected to generate complicated pictures in full […]

Animation enters the gaming arena

Animation history is about to have another “first.” The videogame phenomenon, which recently invaded the animation world via Saturday morning and computer animation graphics, is about to feel the wrath of the animated drawing, itself, as DRAGON’S LAIR premieres this summer (Refers to 1983 in USA).

Developed by Advanced Micro Computer Systems, distributed by Cinematronics, and animated by the Don Bluth Studio, DRAGON’S LAIR uses the laserdisc to accomplish what computer graphics have yet to do, create life-like animation for arcade games.

Take a classic Picasso painting, mix it with Salvador Dali’s melting clocks, combine these in fluid movement, and you have the capability of the latest computer graphics system.

It is common knowledge that the highly labour-intensive visual process of animated film is too expensive, and takes a long time to produce.

But the most satisfactory advance from the visual point of view is the system developed by COMPUTER CREATIONS in South Bend, Indiana, USA.