Autodesk Animator: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|2D animation software}}

{{More citations needed|date=February 2017}}

{{Infobox software

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[[File:Nature Clock.gif|thumbnail|Animation made with Animator Pro]]

'''Autodesk Animator''' is a [[2D computer graphics|2D]] [[computer animation]] and painting program published in 1989 for [[MS-DOS]]. It was considered groundbreaking when initially released.<ref name="pcmag.com">[https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1167636,00.asp Graphics - Winner: Autodesk Animator]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ''"Robert Bennett, Lewis Gartenberg, David Kalish, Jim Kent, Jack Powell, Gary Yost"'' on pcmag.com (1989)</ref>

== Functionality ==

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== Development history ==

''Animator'' originates back to its author's [[Jim Kent]] earlier program ''Cyber Paint'' for the [[Atari ST]].<ref name="asterius">[http://www.asterius.com/atari/cyberpaint.html The Antic Cyber Graphics Software and the Pre-History of Autodesk 3D Studio and Discreet 3ds max] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501104131/http://www.asterius.com/atari/cyberpaint.html |date=2013-05-01 }}. Asterius.com. Retrieved on 2013-04-22.</ref> [[Jim Kent]] evolved in 1989 his software into ''Animator'' for [[Gary Yost]]'s "Yost Group" for [[80286]] [[Personal computer|PC]]s with [[MS-DOS]].<ref>[http://www.randelshofer.ch/animations/anims_atari/jim_kent/Tesla.anim.html jim_kent/Tesla] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218070611/http://www.randelshofer.ch/animations/anims_atari/jim_kent/Tesla.anim.html |date=2017-02-18 }} on randelshofer.ch</ref><ref name="mussy">[https://drmussey.wordpress.com/2010/11/08/the-first-pioneer-in-pc-animation-autodesk-animator/ The First Pioneer in PC Animation: Autodesk Animator] by Dr. Mussy ''"October – November, marks an interesting anniversary for animation: 21 years ago, animation became available for the PC platform."'' (November 8, 2010)</ref> ''Animator'' was then licensed to [[Autodesk]], who published the software as ''Autodesk Animator''.

=== Releases ===

''Animator'' was debuted at [[SIGGRAPH]] 1989,<ref>[http://excelsior.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~carlson/history/tree/ani-software.html Animation Software Companies and Individuals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219222707/http://excelsior.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~carlson/history/tree/ani-software.html |date=2016-12-19 }} ''"At the 1989 SIGGRAPH in Boston, Autodesk unveiled a new PC based animation package called Autodesk Animator."'' by Wayne Carlson on [[Ohio State University]]</ref> featuring a VGA [[graphics mode]] of [[Mode 13h|320×200]] pixels with [[256 colors]].

In July 1991, the successor '''Animator Pro''' was released, with the significant improvement of allowing almost any resolution and [[color depth]]. The software was sold for approx.approximately US$800 (US$1,800 in 2025), significantly more expensive than the previous version, addressing the professional audience.<ref name="mussy"/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hqQJaNzN9IcC&dq=%22autodesk+animator+pro%22&pg=PA452 PC Mag Aug. 1992]</ref>

The 1995 released '''Animator Studio''' was a complete re-write for [[Windows 95]], but was not anymore developed by the Yost Group.

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Eventually [[End-of-life (product)|development of the product ended]] and support was discontinued by Autodesk. The [[trademark]] for "Autodesk Animator", filed on December 18, 1989, expired on July 21, 1997.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:eanu2z.2.1 |title=Autodesk Animator |publisher=[[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] |accessdate=2017-02-17 |quote=''"Word Mark AUTODESK ANIMATOR [...] Serial Number 74011626, Filing Date December 18, 1989 [...] Live/Dead Indicator DEAD, Cancellation Date July 21, 1997"''}}</ref>

Jim Kent kept [[copyright]]s to the 300,000 lines [[source code]] base of Animator Pro, and allowed it to be made available publicly under the [[Open-source license|open-source]] [[BSD license]] in 2009.<ref name="license">[https://github.com/AnimatorPro/Animator-Pro animator pro] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030122426/https://github.com/AnimatorPro/Animator-Pro |date=2016-10-30 }} on GitHub ''"All source code (unless otherwise marked, or if better information becomes available) is ©1989-1994 Jim Kent and is available here under the BSD license"''</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bustingseams.blogspot.de/2009/05/autodesk-animator.html |title=Autodesk Animator - UPDATE: New website, animatorpro.org, Source code now online. |date=2009-05-08 |quote="he kept his rights to the source code, and now, he is granting me access to the source code, to make it available to you all! Well not so fast. He also asked me to get in touch with Gary Yost to ensure that he didn't object. [...] But I managed, and I got his support too! So now that all the relevant parties are up to speed with my idea let's go" |author=Breton Slivka}}</ref> The original 256 color ''Animator'' version for DOS is also provided as a [[freeware]] download.<ref>[https://github.com/AnimatorPro/Animator-Pro/downloads downloads] on [[github.com]]</ref> After some initial [[code review]]<ref>[https://stackoverflow.com/q/4911160 porting-autodesk-animator-pro-to-be-cross-platform] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217064111/http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4911160/porting-autodesk-animator-pro-to-be-cross-platform/ |date=2017-02-17 }} on [[Stackoverflow]]</ref> [[Source port|porting]] to modern platforms was started on [[GitHub]].<ref>[https://github.com/AnimatorPro/Animator-Pro Animator-Pro] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030122426/https://github.com/AnimatorPro/Animator-Pro |date=2016-10-30 }} on github.com</ref> As of April 2014 most of the [[assembly language]] source code had been ported to [[Cross platform|platform-agnostic]] [[C (programming language)|C]] code and [[Simple DirectMedia Layer|SDL]] was used as the target back-end framework.<ref>[https://github.com/AnimatorPro/Animator-Pro/commit/b63d1d862ec6ab45db776e69d58c970e7000e030 PJ: remove add_check_tflx_toram and rem_check_tflx_toram.] by wangds on github.com/AnimatorPro (23 April 2014)</ref>

== Reception ==