From: katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)
Subject: Re: artists and programmers united for better animation
Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 21:13:09 GMT

In article <1992Sep25.230545.23118@ultb.isc.rit.edu> entpph@ritvax.isc.rit.edu writes:
>I'd like to start this off by trotting out a pet obsession of
>mine and that's recommending the book _Digital Harmony_ by John
>Whitney.  It's sadly out of print, but most university libraries
>seem to have a copy (attention Cornell folks! your copy is in
>the music library).  Whitney is one of the pioneers of abstract
>animation and one of the pioneers in our field--he looked at
>computers and animation for IBM in 1968 (?)--near enough.
>
>Now his thing is abstract animation, which ain't for everyone.  But
>his aesthetic can be applied to the motion of any object--abstract element
>or realistic model--and it works.  
>
>There's a pioneer laser disc in the visual pathfinders series called 
>the world of john whitney, but it's really only an introduction--
>the films on it, though, explain what he's talking about in the book.

   Amazing stuff. Whitney Sr. was doing his first animations on _analog_
computers driving x/y plotters to draw directly on film with a light source.
If anyone deserves the name "Father of Computer Animation" it is John
Whitney, Sr.

   I assume that Joun Whitney, Jr. of Digital Productions and Optomystic
is his son.

>To more practical matters: here at RIT rendering speed is everything.
>Students are expected to do a 5 minute thesis film--9000 frames.
>We don't have an hour a frame for elegant, photorealistic images.
>We got 5, 6 minutes tops.  We use TOPAS and have both a 486/33
>and an i860 rapid render system.  What we need (are you listening,
>TOPAS and Crystal programmers?) is a HOLD command.  As much as
>animation is about movement, it's also about holds.  When I'm
>shooting animation film I like to shoot a 200 frame hold at the
>head and tail--just in case, and often there's a hold in the middle
>of a shot.  A HOLD command would let me just record frames without
>have to recalculate and rerender the same frame over` and over
>again.

   This is easy in Topas' main competetor Digital Arts. DGS has a "Produce"
program that builds "Timelines" that are events (show image, matte over,
call external process, record, etc) that can last any amount of time.
Events can be shifted, looped, reversed, with a lot of flexibilty.

   I believe that it is possible to send Topas .TGA images to the hard
disk, rather than directly to the recorder if you have enough hard disk
space. Then one could write a batch file to call each frame up, followed
by a call the the Diaquest controller to record any number of frames.

>The next most important thing we need is a CYCLE command.  Cycles
>are a standard animation technique, but I have never seen an computer
>system which permitted their use, no no, each repetitive movement
>must be entered into the script over and over.

   DGS on the PC, Imagine on the Amiga and (and strongest in this area)
Playmation (PC)/ Animation JourneyMan (Amiga) all have cycle modes.

>Erik Timmerman
>Film/Video Department
>RIT

                                    Chris Williams
                                       katefans@chinet.chi.il.us