heyvern wrote:1)
Old Tarzan Paperback books - Not exactly "software" but there was no software at the time... there weren't computers actually. I would draw flip book cartoons in the margins of books around the house when I was a kid. Tarzan had the best ones I did.
2)
Bleached 16mm film and a pen - I loved that. Bleach old film stock, draw on each frame with a pen. Load up the projector.
3)
Hypercard - Old Apple product. It may still be around not sure. This program had limited drawing tools. It only really supported black and white bitmap artwork but could be used quite effectively to do cell animations. It was mainly designed for creating interactive projects with it's simple programming language. It was the "Flash" of its day. (The original block buster selling game "Myst" was created using Hypercard. True. Look it up).
4)
Macromedia Director - Used that for years. Loved it. Loved programming with it. So much fun. Did all kinds of scripted animations, interactive projects for work. At the time it was like Hypercard on steroids. I could actually use full color with alpha channels! Woohoo! It might have had a different name when I first started using it.
5)
Strata Studio - the BIG expensive one. This was years ago when it first came out and there was only one version. That was my go to 3D tool for a while. It could do anything. I only dabbled with animation in it. I used it mostly for commercial print work... like putting back packs made of Cordura on the Statue of Liberty and the Easter Island heads.
6)
Adobe Dimensions - Remember that? It was a vector based 3D tool. Very nice, easy to use. Created Adobe Illustrator files. Came free with a copy of Illustrator some years back. And yes. A buddy and myself actually used it to produce animations. Nothing exciting, it was hard work exporting frames. I still have version 1 on my old computer.
7)
RayDream Studio - 3D software. Now called Carrara which replaced Raydream and Infini-D. Used RDS for AGES. Loved it. Had such cool effects tricks using image masks. I miss it sometimes
. Did a lot of print work and hobby animations with it for quite a while. At the time I was on a tight budget working from home as a freelancer. RDS was only $300 compared to $1200 for Srata.
8 )
Macromedia Flash - I remember when it had a different name from a different company (before Macromedia and Adobe even). We got one of the first versions where I worked. It was similar to MM Director (limited scripting. That came in later versions) but the web was just starting to catch on and Flash produced VERY SMALL FILES. It was cool.
9)
Animation:Master - The LAST 3D application I will ever buy or use. That's it. No more. Raydream got sold... twice. They lost my registration and I couldn't upgrade for less than full price so I told them to go... uh... I said bad thngs. I tried Pixels 3D for about a week. They pulled a "bait and switch". Sold the "low end" version promising features that cost extra. I told them to go... uh... I said bad things. Then I found Animation:Master and never went back. Cheap, easy to use, Mac/Win on the same disk. Loved it.
10)
Flash - it's here twice. I used it at work years ago but not much. I then bought Flash MX 2004 pro. That is my current version. I don't use it much these days.
11)
Moho - The LAST 2D tool I will ever buy or use. Really cool cheap 2D program I bought about 3+ years ago. This thing was AMAZING and then it got a name change, became Anime Studio and... uh... er... wait... that's what started this story isn't it? I lost my train of thought.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
-vern
