ANIM-AMIGA – Part Two

Speed of development in the computer sector is such that books on the subject are often out-of-date before they appear in the shops. The same is true of magazine articles, reports Ken Clark. The big news concerning Commodore came too late to be included in Part One. The parent company, Commodore Electronics Ltd. went into … Read more

ANIM-AMIGA – Part Two – Page 2

“The initial offer to join the project is to establish a common format within the membership,” I was told, “so that we can supply Harry to all hospitals without restrictions on the type of media that they can use. Harry is available as a printed photocopyable comic showing some of the more common hospital procedures, … Read more

ANIM-AMIGA – Part Two – Page 3

“I am often asked to come into the school after hours to meet the teachers and set the ball rolling. Each teacher then sets his or her class a special project. I come in later to provide the technical support to make their films”. This form of co-operation is achieved through INSET (In Service Education … Read more

Animation:Master review

Animation:Master is a 3D computer animation program that works on the PC, Mac and Silicon Graphics platforms. David Jefferson reviews the PC version. Animation:Master is a development of Playmation from Hash Inc., USA. It has very powerful features and is capable of producing film resolution animation with the appropriate hardware. It is a rendering program … Read more

Animation:Master review – Page 2

Because it is spline based modelling only a few tools are needed to create any shape you can imagine. There is a lathe tool to turn a profile spline into a regular 3D shape. The other method of building a character is to add extra splines. I often start with a lathed shape and add … Read more

Animation:Master review – Page 3

A technique called Inverse Kinematics can be used to animate skeletal motion. The problem with the traditional way of making skeletal motion is one of starting at the wrong end. For example, if you wanted the character to brush her hair, and her hand was by her side, you would start at the shoulder, rotate … Read more

Anim-Amiga

A survey by Ken Clark – Part One In computer parlance an “anim” is an animation and has come to mean a form of movement more akin to diagrammatic or model animation. But that was yesterday – times they are a-changing. It might seem paradoxical, but at a time when the makers of the Amiga … Read more

Anim-Amiga – Page 2

It was a first exercise, cleanly and cleverly executed, showing an intuitive sense of timing, and very nearly filling one floppy disk. Great care had been taken over the modelling of the character with appropriate highlight and shadow values added to his form. It attracted the attention of the PD libraries. His second effort The … Read more

Visual Effects on Terminator 2

Alex Seiden, a senior technical director and animator at Industrial Light & Magic gave a talk about Terminator 2 and its visual effects at the International Animation Festival Cardiff. Report by David Jefferson. “Behind all magic there is a trick, and it is certainly true in the case of visual effects. It is not really … Read more

Visual Effects on Terminator 2 – Page 2

The next step is compositing. On the live action shot the actors are acting to nothing, that is the essence of special effects work. In Terminator 2 there were many shots of Arnold Schwarzenegger twisting his fist in mid-air where he was supposed to be hitting the 11000. These are called the background plates. “Nowadays … Read more