(Author's note: Mention of the products listed below does not imply endorsement, especially since the author does not remotely understand how any of them actually work.)

One of the joys of publishing articles and columns on animation is that I somehow get placed on mailing lists that could lead me to an exciting new career. Of late I have received several sales pitches and special offers from animation technology companies. These promotions mistakenly presume that I work in the industry (seemingly as an animator), and that I will soon be sending checks their way for the latest and greatest personal animation studio(s) ever digitized onto software. They also presume that I have peripherals for my computer that could only be installed through the use of several paychecks and the sale of my car. This is way cool, but here are the facts: Given a stencil of Mickey Mouse, and with Fred Moore's spirit hand guiding mine, I would still produce a drawing that more resembled Popeye. If I actually attempted to install and use the software in the brochures, the result would make the Y2K prophecy look like a gypsy palm-reading and much of the Midwest would be plunged into cyberchaos. In short, it would have been a better idea to mail this literature to my Yorkshire Terrier, except I'm certain that he would humiliate me by installing the software correctly.

All images courtesy of Art Today. © 1996 Arca Max, Inc.

Internal Innovation
Still...how can I not be impressed by how far technology has extended the animator's reach? Back in the age before silicon, advances in animation technology were largely the result of in-house labor. In 1911 Winsor McKay thought that his Little Nemo film would be more impressive in color, so he painstakingly hand-tinted every frame. Not long afterwards, John R. Bray patented most of the inventions that would move his studio into the modern age of animation production. Animator Raoul Barré came up with the peg registration system, and another animator, George Stallings, developed the rotating glass disk for animation tables. When Max Fleischer wanted more realistic animation, he developed the machinery for the rotoscope. Again, when Max wanted to create 3D backgrounds he built and perfected his famous rotating tabletop system and achieved his goal using nary a consultant.

The multiplane camera, a more sophisticated method of replicating 3D, was developed in-house by Disney's technical wizards. Ub Iwerks decided that he could use a multiplane too, and reportedly improvised one out of spare automobile parts. Disney did use an important outside source when he struck a deal with Nathalie Kalmus for the use of Technicolor, but during the making of Fantasia new special effects were developed by Disney's own artists using airbrush, transparent paint, stipple paint and other novel tricks. For that matter, the Fantasound system that Walt Disney intended for use with the film was developed within the studio under the direction of Bill Garity. This forerunner of true stereo sound was just one of many noteworthy innovations that tumbled out of animation studios over the years. Some ideas were simple, others awesomely complex, but all were invariably produced through the ingenuity of a given studio's own animators, artists and technicians.

Turnin' the Tables
Today the art of animation is the beneficiary of the computer industry. A well-written program and/or workstation can now make any individual animator the equal -- or better -- of a traditional Hollywood cartoon studio. When I say any animator, I mean just that: last month my mail included an invitation to purchase the AXA Team 2D Pro, described in the exciting literature as "Your Personal Animation Studio." For only $2,995 (which I keep readily on hand for just such offers) I could own the same technology that produces the cartoons and commercials that I see on TV. Classes are not a prerequisite; the software itself does the educating and there is a direct tech support hotline. If you believe I was mistaken in saying that this software can make one the equal of a studio, the folks at AXA assure me that: "...one animator can scan, paint, and output a 30 second spot, complete with multiplane camera moves, in a single day." I forgo the details here; they are awesome indeed, but no less jaw-dropping than the fact that AXA Team 2D Pro is only one of many available products that can turn a desktop into a one-man (or woman) production company.