Autodesk Animator: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:27, 23 December 2023

Revision as of 15:13, 31 December 2023

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Eventually [[End-of-life (product)|development of the product ended]] and [[Abandonware|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] 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] on [[Stackoverflow]]</ref> [[Source port|porting]] to modern platforms was started on [[GitHub]].<ref>[https://github.com/AnimatorPro/Animator-Pro Animator-Pro] 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 ==

Animator was considered to be groundbreaking in the field of [[computer animation]] when it was initially released. In 1989 Animator won ''[[PC Magazine]]''{{'}}s "6th Annual Technical Excellence Award for Graphics".<ref name="pcmag.com"/>

Also, [[video game developer]]s used the software for intros and other animated sequences in their games, for instance [[Formula One Grand Prix (video game)|Formula One Grand Prix]] (1991, [[MicroProse]]), [[Cannon Fodder (video game)|Cannon Fodder]] (1993, [[Virgin Interactive]]) and [[Jazz Jackrabbit 2]]<ref>[https://www.jazz2online.com/35/visual/ About - Creation of Jazz Jackrabbit]</ref> (1998, [[Epic Games]]). Not to mention that [[Animator|animatorsanimator]]s used the software for animation for Season 1 of [[Home Movies (TV series)|Home Movies]] for episodes 1-5.

Animator Studio attempted to do more than previous versions of the program, yet it had limited success. It also lost the ergonomic fluidity that the DOS versions had and was overshadowed by [[Toonz]] in terms of features and functionality. Animator Pro, though, was by far the most useful, and was exceptionally fast compared with today's animation programs.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

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* [[List of 2D animation software]]

* [https://www.youtube.com/@Jecarci/videos Example of animations with Autodesk Animator Pro - Jecarci]

== References ==

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{{Animation editors}}

{{Autodesk products}}

[[Category:2D animation software]]

[[Category:Autodesk discontinued products]]