Availability
Unfortunately, the Connectix QuickCam is no longer manufactured, and for this reason I have discontinued supplying ANIMAC, too. I will probably NOT make another version for any other cameras or platforms - this is because of #%&?! Micro$oft, who never even once upgraded the Micro$oft QuickBasic compiler I used to program ANIMAC; it simply won't run on newer Macs!
Re-writing the entire ANIMAC software in another language or for another platform is too much work for the negligible income that ANIMAC provided. (Ask any shareware author!) Sorry!
What is (was) ANIMAC?
ANIMAC is a "personal solution" to animation pencil testing, enabling the animator to record and watch drawings, write and adjust exposure sheets, and play sound in sync with the animation. It is extremely helpul for animators working in the classic "Disney style", making hundreds of drawings per scene. I use it all the time when I animate for commercials and documentaries. It speeds up my work and helps me make better animation.
In 1987, I started designing a pencil test program for my own use. In a couple of years, I had a product that was commercially viable, and started to sell, even though I didn't advertise. My customers were spreading the word, and I got more and more requests for information.
The ANIMAC Pencil Test System has been delivered to many studios world-wide since 1989, including the Disney Animation Studios in Burbank and Florida, Phoenix Animation in Canada, and studios in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Finland.
The original ANIMAC was designed for the Mac Plus, used a vidicon tube camera and a proprietary flash digitizer card. Later, when the Mac Classic appeared, I designed a new digitizer and revised the program - to "ANIMAC Classic", what else? There are still a few available of these, so if you have a Mac Classic (not a Classic II or Color Classic), that you want to dedicate to pencil testing, contact me!
During the years, more and more Macintosh models appeared, first the 030's and 040's, and then PowerPC's. ANIMAC II, worked on all these newer machines, and used the Connectix QuickCam CCD camera. This is no longer available, so I do not sell ANIMAC anymore. Also, Micro$oft's compiler crashes on the newest Macs, and %#?*! Micro$oft has never even once during all these years provided an upgrade, so I cannot longer keep ANIMAC for sale. Sorry!
To see the ANIMAC Classic in action at Disney, check page 94 in the great book "Disney's Aladdin, The Making of an Animated Film" by John Culhane. (Hyperion, New York 1992, ISBN 1-56282-892-4):
The book pages are Copyright © Disney and the publisher of this book. This image DOES NOT imply any endorsement of ANIMAC by Disney. I have included the image here assuming that the "fair use quotation right" of copyright law allows it. If I'm wrong, and a copyright owner objects to this image inclusion, please contact me, and I will immediately (but not cheerfully) remove this image.
