There’s a lot archive materials in my house and garage relating to the birth and evolution of the computer animation (and computer graphics) industry.
The archive truly is a thing of wonder, but there are so many questions left unanswered. My chats with TP (who was always so modest!), grade C maths and child-level Raspberry Pi skills were only allowing me only fleeting glimpses of pieces of the jigsaw.
I’m writing this in September 2020. Needless to say that ‘lockdown’ has had a negative impact on myself and others in many ways, but luckily for me something positive has come out of it all – and that is that some geniuses got a bit bored with bored with the gardening…
You see, to decipher what’s what in the archive requires more than ‘ordinary’ programming expertise (as if there’s such a thing). It requires a mind able to de-code obsolete languages written for obsolete hardware on pieces of paper that I might have accidentally reordered when I dropped them on the floor.
Of course some items will forever remain a mystery – and perhaps we’ll (I’ll) get something wrong at some point, but luckily that’s all conceptually okay : )
Right this post is getting way too long so I’ll just sign off by saying a huge big heartfelt thank you to my lockdown friends, ‘The Rosetta Stones’:
> Dr. Victoria Marshall, Atlas expert responsible for us all getting together. She also suggested we have a go at recoding The Flexipede. Dr. M is managing to find time to help me despite being busy during lockdown, operating the Gemini laser from her home. (Best not take her Iceland delivery slot.).
> Dik Leatherdale, friend of Tony’s, computer whizz/historian and editor of The computer Conservation Society’s ‘Resurrection Magazine’.
> Professor Bob Hopgood OBE, CG pioneer responsible for countless innovations at the beginning of the computer animation industry.
> Professor David Duce, Very clever man. When things are logically difficult he’s the main source of knowledge.
Cheerio for now,
Kate
