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Chapter 4 : A HISTORY OF COMPUTER ANIMATION 3/20/92 20 32 bit word . One of its options was the 2250, an interactive graphics display which supported a light pen . IBM was very careful to design the 360 so it could be upward compatable, that is newer versions of the machine could support additional instructions, yet the primitive instruction definitions remain constant . And indeed modules compiled on a 360 will execute on today's very latest IBM 30XX machines . Alternatives to the mainframe began to emerge in the early 1960s . In 1959 Digital Equiptment Corp (DEC) introduced the PDP8, an early minicomputer . But the baseline driving the technology was the density of components in a single integrated circuit, and this continued to increase . Intel Corporation succeeded in manufacturing a single chip containing 1 kbits of memory (1970), a 4 bit ALU (1971), and finally an entire microprocessor-a single chip containing an 8 bit ALU, memory, and I/O control (1974) . Intel assumed the market for its microprocessor chip-the 8008-would consist of replacement systems for applications like smart elevator controllers . (After all, why construct mechanical switching logic when you can simulate it on a computer-furthermore a computer can be reprogrammed, to change what floors an elevator stops at, add new floors, or service calls in a different manner .) But unexpectedly a hobbyist movement exploded : boy scouts, ham radiofiles, and artists began building computer systems themselves . After all, the microprocessor was a complete computer . The breakthrough came in 1975, when Edward Robert's Micro Instruction and Telemetry Systems Company (MITS) introduced the Altair 8800 , a computer kit . In its initial version the machine had no keyboard, no alphanumeric display and was programmed by toggle switches on the front pannel, with the results displayed as status lights . Memory was 256 bytes . Within months however its S-100 bus would emerge as an early standard, and software handlers for a keyboard and monitor were written, as was a loader, assembler and file system . Before the end of the year students Paul Allen and Bill Gates created a BASIC Interpreter, and a company called Digital Research created CP/M, an OS for the machine . Byte magazine was born in 1976 and in 1977 a young Steve Jobs and Michael Wozniak succeeded in designing and manufacturing an entirely stand-along personal computer system that was already assembled-the Apple . The Apple Computer included a backplane, the new 6502 microprocessor, 48 kbytes of memory, a keyboard, color TV display, and casette or floppy disc peripherals . The personal computer had arrived . In 1979 Motorola introduced the 68000, a 16 bit word microprocessor, and in 1981 IBM legitimized the PC by introducing
Chapter 4 : A HISTORY OF COMPUTER ANIMATION 3/20/92 21 their own, built around the Intel 8086 . And the rest, as they say, is history . This brings us to the beginning of our story . Analog Computer Animation During the 1950's and 1960's artists and scientists explored both and digital computers as a way to make moving picture imagery . The analog computer animation tradition includes both electronic as well as mechanical approaches . The mechanical approaches to drawing have been explained above and can involve linkages and mechanical assemblies . The electronic approaches involve creating changing images using continuously varying voltages . Electronic Analog Computer Animation The foundation of the electronic school was the modulated cathode ray tube (CRT), perfected in 19xx . Animation is achieved by using oscillators and variable resistances to position the X and Y deflection coils of the oscilloscope and to vary the intensity of the beam . Here, essentially, was an electronic harmonogram in which modulating electronics substituted for mechanics . The quickly written image that appears on the face of the tube was termed by pioneer Ben Laposky as an oscillogram . Other pioneers in the 1950s included Mary Ellen Bute and Hy Hirsh, who played these instruments in real time controlling them with dials and patch cords . These artists were aware of both the kinetic aspect of their work as well as its static possibilities, photographing the screen with both moving and still cameras, and occasionally using filters to achieve color (fig . 46) . The fusion of the electronic harmograph and television is the video synthesizer, a performance instrument able to be played in real time using a keyboard, switches, and dials . The first commercially successful analog video synthesizer was Lee Harrison's Scanimate (1970), commercialized by Computer Image Corp in Denver . [into caption : Artwork for the Scanimate consisted 46 . Oscillon 254 by Ben F . Laposky, 1957 . This analog electronic harmonogram is made by controlling the voltage, current, frequency, phase, and waveforms that modulate the X and Y deflection coils and beam intensity of a CRT . (Courtesy Ben F. Laposky.)
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Chapter 4: A HISTORY OF COMPUTER ANIMATION ... - Vasulka.org

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